


Maybe she wasn't that mean

by Tea90



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut?, F/F, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-03-15 16:46:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3454442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea90/pseuds/Tea90
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max can't get over the conversation with Victoria, so she decides to text back the Queen of Arcadia Bay. From there, a whole adventure will begin. [Starting with Max's point of view but then changing to Victoria's]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max replies to Victoria's message and receives an invitation to the Queen's room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've reedited this chapter because I wasn't quite happy with the original one. Had a lot of things I didn't like and I'm just updating it. Plot's still the same. Hope you like it moar now.

As I walk through the front yard of Blackwell’s Academy I realize how fucked up this whole tornado situation is. A light layer of snow is covering now everything and I feel the coldness of the floor making its way up my feet.

It’s making me shiver even though the weather isn’t cold at all. Seriously, is this real life? Or is it just Fanta Sea? I smile at my own pun.

I’ve just spent like ages explaining Chloe everything about my brand new ability to rewind the time. It took longer than I thought, cause she kept interrupting me with her crazy ideas.

I know she doesn’t like Victoria, but shooting her in a leg for fun it’s off limits. Jeez, she should stop smoking that much weed. It’s almost making her a psycho. A funny one, but still…

We decided to call it a day after all the mind-blowing explanation… We’ll start looking for some answers after a good night of sleep.

I can’t believe how much I’ve missed Chloe...I should’ve called her before. I know, I know. I’m like the worst friend ever. We’re teaming now with everything that’s going on, but alas, I can’t help noticing how sad her eyes get when she looks at me. 

Losing her father and her then best friend was bad enough to revive everything again by losing the only person who helped her. She didn’t really lose me, but I passively chose to put her on the back of my mind and slowly forget her. I mean, I was in Seattle. What was I supposed to do? I know! Call her. I hope she can forgive me. Eventually.

I reach the stairs of the dormitories with Chloe still on my mind and push the door to get inside of the building. I finally feel warm after the short way from the parking lot here. Man, it’s really chilling outside with the snow!

Everyone is already in their rooms. Sweetness. Or maybe they’re partying in someone else’s room? Whatever, my geek ass would never be invited, and this major headache after all the rewinding shit begs me to go back to back to my room. 

I’ll check later if I have any decent photo for the everyday hero contest Mr. Jefferson wants us to participate. Had one, but those super powers were waiting for me, so I had to break it. Twice. Oh yeah, and I also saved a blue pirate by breaking it. No big deal.

I look at Kate’s whiteboard when I pass by her door. They left the peace sign I draw after solving the sexting drama. Glad they did. Poor Kate seemed on the edge today. I don’t blame her, the constant harassment of Victoria and her squat is starting to be a pain in the ass. 

God, they are the real life Mean Girls. Bitchtoria likes to bully people just for the sake of proving she’s better than the rest of us cause she’s rich as fuck. And unfortunately Kate and I are her favorite sparrings.

I just hope after the paint incident that I HAD to force to get into the dorms she relaxes a little her I’m-gonna-fuck-you-up-if-you-dare-breathing-in-my-presence attitude.

I get into my room, toss my stuff on the couch and collapse on my bed, craving for some rest. I lie there with my eyes closed, but after a while I realize my brain can’t stop going over and over today's events. 

Bitchtoria’s perfect smile pops up after every freaking thought I’m having about blue-haired girls, tornados and awesomely cool travels in time.

I decided to not make fun of her and her spoiled cashmereshit and I actually saw a human being behind her bitchiness. What if she’s an actual human being?

I laugh at the thought like it’s a really funny joke. Icky Vicky being a normal girl… and then what? A tornado? 

My laugh dramatically ends. Well, apparently somebody ordered a tornado to blow up the town to Amazon. Victoria being a normal girl doesn’t seem that ridiculous compared to that.

Maybe she needs a shoulder to cry on and genuinely talk to forget about her façade. Façade… that must be a French work. She said goodbye to me in French after we talked… Maybe she knows French. Yay, I think she’s in French class.

Holy fuck Max, stop it. You need to stop thinking about Cutetoria and focus on your own shit…

Wait, what!? Did I just call her cute? What’s going on with you Maxine Caulfield? She's been making fun of me since I arrived here! Why should I forgive her just because she deleted that photo she took only because I was nice to her? Plus, she texted me just to make it clear that we are not friends.

I get up and look into my messenger bag to pick my phone so I can check the messages. Nothing. Not even Warren. What a super busy social life I have.

I go through the convo with Warren and I add a little bit more of guiltiness to my day when I see the pic he sent me after Nathan’s beating. I told him I would call him later… But don’t feel like talking at the moment, to be honest.

I simply send him a text. _I know I owe u BIG time. Crazy day, see ya tomo!_

I’m more like a quiet girl. I’d rather observe the world and take photos than actually getting involved. Duh, people. But I have to admit that I’m quite cheeky if I can hide in my room and talk through my phone or my laptop.

Yay, I’ll give it a go and reply Victoria’s message. Worst-case scenario, she’ll keep bullying me. I’m sure her plan was doing that anyway so…

I type a kind of sassy message to her _._

_I know we’re not friends, wasn’t looking for it anyway!_

Is it 9:46 pm a bad time to send the great Victoria Chase a message? If I wake her up she’ll come here and strangle me with one of her designer’s scarfs…

Whelp, delivered. There’s no turning back.

She’s just replied, so she’s obviously not asleep. Why do I feel like I’m pathetic compared to her? I scroll up and down the messages interface, hesitating before opening it. 

She’s probably super busy having fun with all the Vortex Club’s fuckers she hangs out with and I’m here worrying about my incredibly awesome superhero life. Without actually anyone to talk to in the dorms right now… Whoo me!

_What do u want? Hope u didn’t think u could actually be my friend, SAD FACE._

Lovely. She’s still the lovely bitch we all know. I’m not going to back up now. Nope. I’m going to push a little further to see what happens. I could always rewind if she decides to come and punch me in the face. My head will explode if I rewind again, but whatever. I wanna try. 

_Just cause you’re used to people wanting something from u doesn’t mean I’m like ‘em. Just saying._

Why does she like so much to call me Sad Face? I look at my selfies on The Wall. Gulp. Maybe my face actually looks a little bit sad. But hey! There’s nothing wrong with sad faces. Right?

I’m not going to play her game, I’m just going to be me. Dweeb, geekie Max Caulfield. It’s the only person I have been for my whole life. I’m used to me, and I know I’m awesome… deep inside.

I don’t really care about what she thinks of my face. Seriously, how could she possibly text something like that and have a Gandhi quote on her whiteboard? All hail the Queen.

_Well then hipster. I’ll give u a chance to explain yourself. Come to my room. Now._

Whaaat? Victoria. Me. Her room. I’m clearly missing something here…

Am I ready to deal with her mean side? And anyway, what does she want me to explain?

I blink and suddenly find myself grabbing the doorknob, ready to go. That was fast. Not only I can rewind time but apparently I can also go fast-forward now.

I gulp while I cross the corridor and stand in front of her door. It’s open, but I raise my hand to knock before getting in. She must have seen me cause she says, “Just get in, loser”.

I get into her rich ass room and find her sitting on the ridiculous couch. Why expending so much money on a couch like that when you can spend it on Polaroid films? Oh yeah. Cause she’s so rich she could even buy a pony to go from the dorms to the main building. That’s why.

Victoria’s looking at the window while the radio is playing one of my Syd Matter’s favorite songs on the distance. Since when she enjoys this kind of music? I thought this was emo garbage for gals like her.

Anyway, she’s almost copying the pose she had this afternoon in the stairs when we had that little situation. Her legs are crossed and her body weight is resting half on her bony ass and half on her elbows. Flawless Victoria is flawless.

“What do you want, Max? You think you can fool me with your caring attitude, but everybody wants something in exchange. Always. So spit it out before I change my mind”.

I can’t say I want anything from her at all. I don’t even know why I didn’t make fun of her when she was a living piece of art, covered in white paint. In fact, I don’t even know what I’m doing here.

Well, I’m going to keep it genuine, and if it doesn’t go well I’ll rewind and find another way.

“I don’t want anything from you. I… I thought it was bad enough to be covered in white paint to have someone being mean to you”.

She doesn’t reply, but she stares at me, completely lost in her thoughts. Her lips are closed, and her jaw is a little bit clenched. I’ve only been here for like, two minutes? And it seems like I’m already bothering her. Best idea ever, Max.

Under her intense gaze, I can’t lock eyes with her anymore. I manage to look at my feet before she realizes I’m blushing. I should do something other than staring at the floor grabbing my arm as I usually do.

“Look, Victoria… I know you don’t want to be friends with me, and I’m not sure if I would ever want that after everything you have done to me. To us.”

Did I just say that? Wow Max, rewinding the time is not the only thing you’ve learned to do today. 

“I think you’re simply scared. You’re scared of your own problems, like the rest of us. And you pay your frustration with the people you have around, but it won’t make you feel any better”.

I use the remaining courage I have after speaking my mind to raise my head and lock eyes with her again. I wasn’t expecting what I see. She looks like… defeated.

Her eyes are completely filled with sadness. Or maybe it’s my imagination. I don’t know but my heart skips a beat right before completely crumbling.

She’s still silent, but she accommodates on the couch while she moves her hand to tap two times the space to her left. I guess it’s an invitation to sit down by her side and talk.

I gladly accept the feedback she’s giving me, cause I was starting to feel trapped in the room. The silence and the melancholic mood Syd Matter’s album are the main things to blame for it.

I approach the couch and sit down, trying hard to not get too comfortable as the awkwardness of the situation is still very present.

“Thanks for comforting me this afternoon… I… I don’t know. You’re different, Max. I realized that after we talked”, says Victoria.

She moves her hand again to gently place it on my knee. For real? Is Victoria touching me? I have the feeling that I’m going to wake up any minute now.

She locks eyes with me one more time and makes my body shiver and my stomach clench.

Victoria is really beautiful on the outside and she knows it, but she shouldn’t underestimate the beauty she has inside. All right. It’s not that I can assure that by what I’ve seen of her, but I guess everyone’s beautiful on the inside? 

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express that if she keeps looking at me with such an intense gaze. Or better said, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express that.

I simply move my hand to my knee to softly place it on top of hers, rubbing my thumb against her delicate skin.

Shit, Max. Just say something already!

“I think you are different too, Victoria”.

That was pretty lame… Maybe I should rewind and say something else?

Before I can move my hand to do it, Victoria slightly moves hers. She captures mine with her thumb, making me look down for a second due to the unexpected movement. I find her eyes tracing my lips when I finally look at her again.

I think she’s leaning closer… Wut? Oh god… I think she wants to kiss me. Worst of all, I think I want her to kiss me! I wish I could turn off the radio. Syd Matters is clearly not helping to stop this weird atmosphere. 

_Someday we will foresee obstacles, through the blizzard, through the blizzard_

She’s leaning closer to my face. What now Max? What?!?

I stop thinking for a second and my body betrays me. Goddammit. I involuntarily lean closer too and slowly close my eyes, mirroring Victoria.

_We played hide and seek in waterfalls, we were younger, we were younger_

My lips clumsily crush with hers. I don’t have any experience on this, okay? I’ll just play it easy on myself.

How am I supposed to breathe with my mouth closed? Oh right. I have a nose. Eureka Max! After this I’ll find the formula to bring dinosaurs back to life and start my own park. Jesus…

I snap out of it and concentrate of Victoria’s softs lips. She moves her hand to my cheek and traces small circles with her thumb. Suddenly my arms are like weird things I can’t control and I stay still. I don’t know what to do with them. Should I, dunno, like hold her?

The mixture of her lips with her touch sends an electric spark that runs my entire body. Wow…

“HEY VICTORIA! GUESS WHAT HAPP….” Oh no. Fuckshit no. This can’t be happening.

Courtney and Taylor storm into the room without even knocking and Victoria immediately pushes me away.

“What the fuck are you doing? Get away from me, weirdo!” says Victoria jumping from the couch and staring at me with her arms crossed.

She’s just violated the laws of physics with that jump. HOW? Is Victoria a cat? That’d explain a lot of things…

I don’t think I fully understand what’s going on here… I raise my hand to rewind the time, but I hear Victoria say to her mean girls that I tried to kiss her.

We actually kissed and you were the one who started it! That’s what I want to scream, but I just manage to make some strange guttural noises.

Plans for tonight? Oh well, the most popular girl on high school invited me to her room and then kissed me, but now it looks like she wants to murder me. Just a normal day in my life, y’ know? No big deal.

Between bumbling noises I mutter an almost inaudible “sorry” and get the hell out of her room, almost running to mine.

Boo hoo… She fooled me. I thought… Well, whatever. It doesn’t matter what I thought, does it?

I lie on my bed and start to cry, trying to suppress the sobs. Why, Victoria? Why?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all like this chapter and it surprises you a little. If it's just a little I'll be really happy haha. Please let me know what you think!
> 
> Want to thank AQA473 for the tips. So helpful!

Tears can’t stop falling down my face, but I’m decided to stop them and deal with this situation.

“Ok Max. Relax. Just relax. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.” I say to myself in the loneliness of my room.

I repeat this pattern for a couple of minutes and my sobs begin to decease slowly. Good, this is good. Now I just need to analyze the situation and decide what to do. I’m going to get one of my pens from my messenger bag and a piece of paper so I can note all the ideas.

Right, first I texted Victoria and she replied, so I ended up in her room because SHE invited me. It’s like her private sanctuary, and I can see why after having the chance to be all nosy when I was looking for Dana’s innocence proof. That is definitely weird… Syd Matter’s album was playing on the background. Since when does Victoria like him? I raise one eyebrow as the feeling of suspiciousness grows inside my mind.

We started to talk, well, actually we didn’t talked at all. I said a couple of lame things while she was staring at me. I’m sure she looked… she looked like wounded. But still, she didn’t say anything at all. Anything remarkable. 

Then she suggested me to sit by her side tapping her absurdly expensive couch. Who needs a couch like that in her room? What if you accidentally spill your coffee on it? I can’t understand rich kids… Anyway, I accepted the offer and she moved her hand to my knee. Victoria Chase. Victoria Chase touched me. That’s certainly something she wouldn’t do without a reason to do it. 

After that she leant even closer and wanted to...mmh… kiss me, and I obviously wanted to, though I don’t know why… I like it when she’s far from me, not the other way around.

Think about that later, Max. You can’t waste time right now thinking about your messed up feelings if you want to rewind the time without going too far. 

We, euh, kissed… But it was too rushed. Totally out of the blue. Like it was all prepared. As if it were meant to be…. And in that precise moment Courtney and Taylor stormed in the room and Victoria violently pushed me away with one of her brilliants statements about my face. She’s always trying to be original, but I can’t be bothered anymore with her hostility. Who cares? Just because I use a Polaroid and I listen to indie folk doesn’t mean I’m a hipster… Jeez! Maxine Caulfield, stop beating around the bush. This is important. 

I look at the paper full of ideas, trying to connect them somehow. I know I’m missing something, and the key is Victoria. Victoria… Her behavior in the room was absolutely unlike her. I’ve been here for two months and she’s been a royal pain in the ass the whole time. She’s Blackwell’s Regina George. The perfect queen bee. The kind of girl that will do anything to destroy you if you slightly eclipse her, like she tried to do with Rachel. 

I chose to comfort her and that lead me to see a brief spark of humanity in that tiny but mean as fuck body and although she seemed genuine when she thanked me, I don’t think that would ever be enough to tear down Victoria’s thick walls. It’s almost like a joke.

Oh man, I can’t think straight with this…. Joke. I raise my eyebrows in surprise. A joke…. Could it be that? What if she played me a really cruel joke? That’s more her style, having something to blackmail me or simply ruining my already nonexistent reputation for fun. 

I have to find out if I want to clarify my feelings, and besides I can’t leave things like this… Courtney and Taylor saw us, uhm, kissing. I shake my head to make this shyness that just came to my mind and my cheeks disappear. Anyway, I need to rewind and change everything; otherwise hell will be a place on Earth for me in this high school. I mean, it will be more infernal whenever they are around after that. I know Victoria’s reputation is everything for her, so she’ll probably tell everyone I’m like a perv or whatever suits her version, and that’s something I can’t handle right now, not with all the problems I have to solve.

Moving my right hand I start to rewind the time seeing the images on fast forward, until I see myself in front of Victoria’s room and there I stop rewinding. I can feel my mind spinning and I immediately feel dizzy, so I raise my arms to stop myself from falling down and hold her door, but unfortunately it’s unlocked, so it flings open due to the pressure I apply and I can’t regain my position, which makes me collapse on my knees. 

In an attempt to recover from this awful dizziness I hold my head with my hands, closing my eyes for a moment and with my eyes closed I obviously can’t see Victoria, but I feel her moving towards me. 

“Shit, Max. Are you ok?” She must be by my side but keeping the distance, cause she doesn’t put a hand on my back or my shoulder as anyone else would if they see another human being collapse on the floor. At least she didn’t greet me with one of her sharp statements followed by one of the brilliant names she always has for me, so I guess I’m looking absolutely miserable right now.

“Yeah… I suddenly felt kind of dizzy. Just give me a second.” I breathe deeply and open my eyes slowly. Nailed it. She’s standing by my side with her arms crossed above her chest, looking just a little bit concerned.

Syd Matter’s album is playing on the background and there’s no way I’m going through this again, so I raise my head to look at her and say: “Could you please turn off the music? It’s hammering in my head”.

She offers me a huff as an okay to my request and goes to her laptop. With my eyes still on her, I see Victoria move in front of the computer and nervously turn her head to the side so she can look at me out of the corner of her eye while pressing the key to pause the music. 

“Looks like I’ve ruined the mood you were trying to fake here, bitch.”

Victoria’s mouth opens in surprise for a second to then furrow her eyebrows in anger and say “What the fuck, Max??” She’s now aggressively facing me.

Shit, shit, shit. Oh man… I thought that out loud! “This is going to hurt.” I say before quickly moving my hand and rewind the time a couple of seconds, resuming it before my inconvenient word vomit. I feel a painful puncture in my temples straight away, but I clench my fists and jaw to handle the pain. 

“Come sit down. You’ll feel better.” I’m still kneeling on the floor of her room and she gives me a nice Victoria’s style roll of eyes before she goes to the couch and copies her previous pose, like she’s flawless, she knows it and she doesn’t give a damn about the rest of the world, and I’m probably overanalyzing every little detail trying to find out the truth behind her actions and that’s making me look more awkward than I already am when she’s around, so I have to chillax and act natural. Don’t think it’s going to work though, but I have to try.

I slowly start to stand up to buy me more time to look through the room seeking that something I’m looking for, but there’s nothing so obviously suspicious that captures my attention. I face her and cover the gap between the door and the couch to finally sit down, trying to keep the distance from her for now.

“So, what do you want, Max? You think you can fool me with your caring attitude, but everybody wants something in exchange. Always. So spit it out before I change my mind”. 

She looks at me directly in the eyes, but this time I’m not going to blush, look away or back up. By now I realized there’s something going on and I have to figure out what it is. It’s almost unbelievable that not so long ago I was sitting in the same place following a line of thoughts extremely different than the one I’m following now. You’re hiding something Victoria, and I’m going to find out what it is.

“I don’t want anything from you. Not everyone consecrates their existence to make other people’s lives miserable”. Wow, that was blunt Max. Well done. 

Just like it happened the first time I was here, she doesn’t reply to my answer, but she stares at me completely lost ‘again’ in her thoughts with her lips firmly closed. This is the perfect opportunity to check the room. Keep it low, Max. There’s nothing weird on the table; some letters, leaflets and what it seems to be her portfolio. I slowly bring my eyes to the wall in front of me, but there’s nothing there that captures my attention either, only photos, her printer, the awesome plasma that I want to steal from her… Definitely nothing, so I move my eyes to the right.

“Thanks for comforting me this afternoon… I… I don’t know. You’re different. I realized that after we talked”, she says as she moves her hand to place it softly on my knee, making my body shiver and my stomach clench for the second time this evening, but now she’s not taking me by surprise, so I quickly put mine on top of hers, just like I did the first time, and I cautiously smile at her. I’m running out of time, cause what follows is her… euh, kissing me. I break the eye contact to place my eyes on her desk. It doesn’t seem to be anything there, just a cup of coffee, some books and her laptop. 

She moves her hand, capturing mine with her thumb again, so I briefly look at her with a shy smile before moving my eyes to the desk one more time. By the way she’s sitting on the couch, I know the spot I’m looking for is the one she’s giving her back to, and that’s exactly her desk.

She starts to lean closer to me and I know what follows will make my headache even worst, but first I think I’m going to play with her, after all you don’t hit the time rewinding jackpot every day… Before she can get closer, I kiss her lips abruptly without closing my eyes, and by the way she’s looking at me I know she’s never been this surprised in her whole life. If I’m doing this, I’m doing it right, so I bite her bottom lip with force and she shoves me with a horrible grimace on her face.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? You fucking potato with eyes!” As much as I’m enjoying this, it’s time to rewind, so I move my hand and wind back to the moment when she moves her hand to my knee, sending another painful puncture to my temples.

There it is. I’ve been here a few hours ago and I clearly remember the position of Victoria’s PC. It was facing the door, not facing us as it is now. “Your laptop…” The words accidentally come out of my mouth.

“What do you mean my laptop?” She spouts nervously. Bingo, Max. I’m not a genius, but that doesn’t mean I’m ‘a potato with eyes’, so I immediately know I just found was I was looking for.

“The camera is on, Victoria. I can see the green pilot”. Before she could even react, I jump off the couch and rush to the desk, pressing some keys for it to turn on, just to see myself on the screen. She is recording all! So that was it… She is recording everything for who knows what… Man, are you cereal?

“MAX!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING??” She grabs my arm and pulls me away from the computer with such intensity it makes me bump into her chair and fall onto my butt.

“Ouch… Why would you?” I manage to say, but she doesn’t have time to answer cause Courtney and Taylor storm into the room.

“HEY VICTORIA! GUESS WHAT HAPPENED THIS after…noon… What is SHE doing here?” says Courtney, but I’m absolutely done with this. For real. I’m done with Bitchtoria, I’m done with her mean girls, and I’m done with whatever is going on here. I move my hand and start rewinding. 

I see myself going backwards from the floor to the laptop, then to the couch, to the floor again and finally to the hallway, but suddenly my vision starts to feel like blurry and my head is pounding really hard. I drop my hand and time resumes.  
I know I’m in the hallway cause I saw it before stopping the rewind, but everything is really confusing at the moment. I feel my face wet and I raise my arm to wipe the tears, but they aren’t tears... My nose is bleeding profusely. 

“Oh…” I whisper looking at my hand covered in blood. I can feel my t-shirt getting wet with the drops. Everything starts to get black and my knees start to shake. 

The last thing I see is Victoria’s panicky face peeking out of the door…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think it'll be that easy for Vicxine, did ya? ;) Aaand, sorry, I'm not sorry. Couldn't resist the temptation of biting Victoria.
> 
> There will be another chapter coming soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read this notes! They're important!! 
> 
> Ok, so we're going to switch here to Victoria's point of view so we can understand what's going on. About this chapter: before writing it I've tried to walk in Victoria's shoes and get to understand her better despite the lack of information we have. My analysis of Victoria is the following, her self-esteem is non-existent, so she NEEDS to bitch about everyone to cover it, but deep down she knows she's lying to herself. She's lonely and craves affection, and that's why Max is super important in this pairing, cause she's probably the only one that has been genuine and shown real affection (non-romantic for now) to her. It's going to be a really long journey, but what I think about Victoria is that one side is pulling her to act according to her social status and the other side is pulling her to Max, since she's seen that Max is somehow special. This is my interpretation and you will see some hints in this chapter, but if you don't agree you'll probably going to think Victoria is OOC, but really, I happened to have made an analysis of her and I'm going to stick to my results. If you have questions or you think I'm completely wrong, or simply wanna taco about it, feel free to message me.

“Okay. […] I know. […] For fuck’s sake, I. Know. […] I’ll call you later. […] ARE YOU DEF OR WHAT? I’LL CALL YOU LATER!!” I hang up the phone with anger and seethe while I scratch my right eyebrow. I don’t like anyone telling me what to do, and especially I don’t like anyone repeating me what to do more than once. I’m Victoria Chase. I’m fucking Victoria Chase. I’m the one who talks. Always. 

I sit down on my chair and check my Facebook to forget about that fucking idiot. 387 new notifications. I knew my followers would love my last selfie with those dorks, Courtney and Taylor. I know they’re my friends, but their IQ is just like the weather in the North Pole, always below 0 no matter what, and I can’t stand their lack of intellect for more than a couple of hours. But they’re fun be around if I want to hear how gifted and flawless I am, cause mind everyone, I am. At least in this crappy town where everything and everyone’s as lame as Lindsay Lohan when she’s drunk. 

I check some profiles and go through at least a hundred comments stating my gorgeousness and style. ‘Zachary is no longer in a relationship’. I giggle to then allow a big smirk on my face. That’s what that fugly bitch gets for messing up with the Vortex Club. She thinks she’s going to be a great journalist but we all know and agree that she’ll only get to stay in Arcadia Bay and write the classified ads if she wants to make it to minimum wage. And Dana… Well, she gets that for being friends with that lame cow. Besides, Logan told all the football team what was going on with him, Dana, and their “little problem”. Who would have thought that the two of them didn’t make it to a completely functional brain? Anyway, Zachary told Nathan, and Nathan told me, so we have come full circle. Someone should tell those bitches I have money, I have power, and I have information. 

Well, this is funny, but it’s time to get to work. My smirk disappears when I open the video recorder app in my laptop and see myself on the screen. I furrow my eyebrows with disdain when I capture my own gaze. I don’t like the idea of doing this. It’s good to remind people who owns this place, but even I know where the limits are, and this is crossing the line. After doing this I really hope everything’s over, but deep inside I know it won’t. I set the position of my PC for it to be perfectly facing my ivory white designer sofa, and then I hit the button to start recording so I can do a few tests and decide the best pose for what I have to do.

I spend several minutes trying some postures in different places of my couch, staying frozen for some seconds with every one of them so I can see it clear when I check the video. When I get tired of trying positions I go back to my chair and stop the recording. I see the video twice and decide that the best option is to sit on the corner giving my back to the camera so I can move slowly when sad face gets here, making my movements almost imperceptibles to the camera. 

Really, she’s the ‘ass’ in ‘class’, and it’s so easy to make fun of her face that I’m almost getting bored of doing it… But she didn’t take the opportunity of laughing at me when she could after that fucking weirdo dropped the paint bucket on the floor and therefore spoiled my cashmere. To be honest, I’m not used to people being nice to me without wanting something in exchange, so it was quite…surprising. Not that it would ever make us friends, but it was amusing to hear her trying to chin me up with that bumbling murmuring. Plus, she noticed that Richard Avedon inspires my work. Kind of refreshing after hearing those brainless talking non-stop about who cheated on who while reading stupid magazines… I swear it, I’m surrounded by idiots. Still, I hate the idea of having to do what I have to do. I don’t want her in my room, I don’t want her on my couch and I certainly don’t want her mouth close to anything that belongs to me, specially my body. 

I check the hour in my Rolex. It’s 9 pm and I know that eggface hasn’t come yet, as I’ve been paying attention every time someone came to the dorms and her room is really close to time. Her social life is buried so deep it’s out of my radar so I don’t know where she is… Not that I give a fuck, but I’m starting to get impatient. I don’t like to wait. 

I stare at the infinite completely lost in my thoughts, reviewing the plan over an over trying to cover all the what ifs. Right, she’s going to text me back. I’m 100% sure she’ll do it cause she’s always trying to get along with everyone. A twinge of guilt shakes my mind the second I think that. Lately I found myself thinking about how different my life would be if my family didn’t have money, but some of us win the life lottery and others don’t, and it’s not my problem that her social skills are similar to those a potato has, none. I shake my head to stop wandering off. Ok, she’ll probably get here and stare at her shoes while grabbing her elbow with her other arm. She’s like an open book. Always doing the same things when she’s uncomfortable. Then I’ll invite her to join me on the couch and wait until her friend Syd Matters paves the way for the aim of the video, c’est à dire, she kissing me. I know the plan doesn’t stop there, but that would be enough. There’s no way I’m letting her go further if she tries, first because I don’t want to, and second because that could imply that I wanted her to do it if someone sees the video, so fuck the rest of the plan. Once we kiss I’ll kick her out. 

I let myself wander through the scene I’m going to recreate once she gets here until my phone wakes me up from my daydream. It’s her. I was a 100% sure she’ll text me back and here it is. I’m awesome when it comes to read people’s minds. Time to grab the popcorn and get this party started.

I reply to her last answer and tell her to come here. She’s not known for being a smart-ass, but I hope she didn’t get there’s something tricky in this entire situation, cause it’s pretty obvious that under normal circumstances I would never ever invite a lame hipster like her to my room. I quickly hit the button to start recording and play that bizarre album she likes so much according to her Facebook profile to set the mood so it hits her in the face the minute she gets here. Standing up, I check my outfit in the mirror and make sure the door’s slightly opened for her before sitting on the couch placing my body the right way to cover my face and hide my actions for the camera. She’ll be here in a minute.

A minute goes by, and then a second and a third one. I’m starting to get nervous and angry… I’m nervous because, what if she doesn’t come? And I’m angry because, who dares making me wait? She’s really weird, so who knows what’s going on in her mind. I bet she got so nervous when I told her to come she peed herself… But she has to come or I’ll be the one fucked up. I start to sweat frantically thinking about her not coming and ruining the perfect plan.

I stand up and put my head out of the door a little to see the hallway, but what I see makes me freak the hell out. Max is standing in the middle of the corridor with her hand on her nose. I bet she took clumsiness to the next level and hit herself with the wall cause she was staring to one of her “gifted” photos.

I look at her carefully and… Oh my god, she’s standing there with her hand covered in blood and I… I can’t react. Oh wow, she looks like she’s going to collapse. Shit, timber! She’s just passed out on the floor. That’s all I need to make my body defrost and run to her.

“Max! Max!!” I gently slap her face to make her react, but it’s not working. I start to sweat even more than when I was in my room, big drops falling from my temples slowly. What should I do? I can’t leave her like this. I don’t want to leave her like this. But what if someone comes? They can’t see me here or they’ll blame it on me… The whole school will believe me no matter what I say, but I can’t be on the lime’s light for something like this. 

Finally my human instinct beats my queen bee instinct and I gently lift her body to make her back rest against the wall so her nose stops bleeding. I hold her head backwards while placing my hand on her nose since I don’t have any tissues with me and I don’t want to leave her side, making my hand soak with her blood. Shit, she’s bleeding copiously… What did she do to be like this? I keep slapping her face softly and calling her name, hoping that will make her wake up, but it’s not working either. I’m getting hysterical and I can’t stop the tear that comes from my eye after blinking. I should call someone, this is really serious, but my reputation will be damaged if they see me trying to help her… Ugh. 

Suddenly the door of the dorms slams open and I place my eyes on it to see fucking cow and ex pregnant on the hallway giggling like idiots. We all freeze for a second staring at each other, my eyes travelling from one to another with my hands still on Max’s face for what it seemed an eternity.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?” Juliet spouts from the distance. They run here and I stand up and back up a little bit in astonishment. Since Juliet has me in her sights I don’t want her close to me. Dana kneels to take care of Max, but Juliet faces me aggressively, almost showing her teeth like fucking Edward Cullen.

“First you sext my boyfriend, then you try to put me against Dana, and now you hurt Max… I’m going to fucking destroy you Victoria. And hell knows I’m going to enjoy it sooo much. You can consider yourself lucky I don’t beat you up right here.” 

We both have our hand crossed above our chest, mine spoiling my cashmere for the second time today due to the blood. The tension is growing stronger, but I’m Victoria Chase, and no one dares talking to me like this without consequences. Although I haven’t done anything to Max, I don’t want to waste time trying to explain it to them, so I give Juliet my best I-don’t-give-a-fuck face with a wide smile before spitting out my comeback. 

“You know what Juliet? I’d love to bitch slap you right now, but I don’t want to get slut on my hand.” I go to the door of my room and open it, but before getting in I need to regain control of the situation and remind that fucking cow who owns this place, so I wide my smile and say “And by the way, life’s short and so is your boyfriend’s penis, whom I sexted with this finger”, I show her my middle finger and see her clench her jaw in anger before getting into my room and shut the door. That wasn’t very classy, but she deserved it. 

Well that was a kick. And I’m seriously fucked up. Not only I haven’t accomplished the task I had to do but also I’m… I’m worried about fucking Lamefield. What did she do to be like that? My stomach clenches when I think about her face, hand and t-shirt covered in blood.

I press my ear against the door to hear what’s going on cause there’s no way I’m going out right now. I’m not afraid of Mss. Cuckolded Frustrated Journalist, but she has access to the school newspaper and Dana is quite popular since she’s a cheerleader, so I have to plan my next movement carefully if I want to win this chess game. But I’m the Queen and they’re mere pawns. I can move freely through the board and they only have one way, so I’m sure I’ll be able to predict their movements and smash them. It seems like they’re taking Max somewhere else, cause I hear their voices fainting. 

My phone starts to ring and I know I have to pick that call if I don’t want to get in more trouble. And where the fuck are Courtney and Taylor? They’re always glued to my ass and now that I need them they seem to have disappeared. 

“Plan’s over. Everything went wrong. […] Stop fucking yelling at me, it wasn’t my fault. […] We’ll talk about it tomorrow, Nathan.” I hung up without waiting for his response. Tonight’s going to be really long…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NO NEED TO SAY THAT I DON'T SHARE ANY OF THE COMMENTS VICTORIA MADE. I tried to put on her mouth the words she would say, and I know some comments are really mean, but we've seen her being really mean, so yep... 
> 
> Also, the plot is going to get more twisted from here, and I probably have to trigger warnings, but you have to know that episode 2 isn't out yet and from now I'm going to separate from the actual game plot to create my own story. I'm really enjoying writing this fanfic and by the time ep 2 will be out I'll prob have 2 more chapters, so I either stop writing to fit together the future events or just create my own story, and I'm choosing the second option. However, I'm writing this for you to enjoy it, so please tell what you want and I'll be more than happy to reconsider the plot.
> 
> I know the notes are long, so thank you very much for reading them :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THOU SHALT BE WARNED! The angst is aggressive in this chapter. Still with Queen Vic point of view. I think I quite vibe with her :3

I’m still holding my phone with the hand that is not covered with Max’s blood when I sit on my chair. Looks like I’ve hit the zombie mode button at some point, cause I’m still shocked about what just happened, but fortunately something brings me back to Earth.

“HEY VICTORIA! GUESS WHAT HAPPENED THIS AFTERNOON!!” Courtney and Taylor just stormed in my room, both looking quite excited.

“O-M-G, this is so harsh! Nathan beat up that science nerd, Walter, and lame hipster tried to defend him andomgyouknowwhathappenedthen? She scratched Nathan’s face. Omg he’s so angry. You should have seen him! He was punching a tree like it was a matter of life or death. Omg and”

“Courtney, could you please stop your damn talkiarrea? You think I don’t know it?? I fucking own this place. Almost literally.” I rub my eyebrow anxiously. They really exasperate me…

“Vicky… What’s that?” They’re both looking at me with their mouths opened and their expressions with a mix of fear and disgust.

“What now?” I look at my hand and realize I've just rubbed my eyebrow with the hand that is soaked with blood. No. Fucking. Way. I must be looking disgusting now that I have part of my face covered with blood too.

“It’s none of your business!” I blurt out before I could think about it. “Just… Please, leave me alone. I’ll explain it to you tomorrow.” They know they have to comply with what I say, so they immediately leave my room with resignation.

I check my phone. 7 missed calls and several text messages. I read the last one without unlocking it. _Where are you, bitch?_ I throw the phone against the wall with rage. The word ‘asshole’ couldn’t describe him more accurately in this moment. I’m seriously not in the mood for ANYTHING. I just want to clean myself and call it a day.

I exit my room and go to the bathrooms. There’s no one here, so I feel kind of relieved for not having to shoo away anyone else. I start washing my face making sure I wipe away all the blood spots I have, completely lost in my thoughts.

“That’s my blood…”

“Jesusfucking…. You scared the shit out of me!” My heart is beating a million miles per hour. I didn’t even hear sad face coming in.

“You helped me…” She says in a low tone staring at me with mistrust in her eyes, but she’s the last person I want to talk with, beside Nathan of course, who decided that today was the perfect day to become a fucking psycho.

“What do you want Max? I can’t be bothered with your bumbling attitude right now, and your face’s only making things worst.”

“I’m not here for you. I just need to clean myself too, and last time I checked these were shared bathrooms, so…” she says moving to the sink next to me and opening the faucet.

“Whatever.” I don’t have the energy to let out one of my nasty comebacks, so I resume my previous actions without looking at her.

I hear a door being violently knocked on the distance and I immediately paralyze in fear. I raise my eyes to catch my own gaze on the mirror. I’m pale and sweating buckets… It’s him.

“VICTORIA!! YOU FUCKING BITCH! WHERE ARE YOU?”

I look at Max and see the confusion in her eyes, but there’s no time for talking. She’s the reason Nathan started this all, and my instinct urges me to protect her from him right now. Making fun of her is one of the easiest things to do in the world, but this is way more serious.

I drag her to the last toilet and push her inside, putting my index on my mouth before carefully closing the door. I really hope she gets it and stays quiet when he comes here.

I barely have time to close the faucet when he gets in, looking furious.

“Hiding in the bathroom, huh... Why didn’t you answer your phone? I’ve called you at least 15 times.” His tone is suddenly relaxed, though the tension is undeniable.

“I told you we’d talk tomorrow, Nate.” I cross my arms above my chest and keep my chin up. I’m Victoria Chase. I’m not afraid of anyone, not even Nathan.

He gets closer to me before opening his mouth to talk. “I asked you to do something, and you know I always get what I want.”

I breathe deeply to hide the shiver that I know my tone will have before talking. “You win some, you lose some, Nathan. I told you the plan was over.”

“Aah, Vicky. After all this years you still don’t know who you’re dealing with? I thought you were smart… But it seems you forgot I know your dirty little secret.” He looks at me directly in the eyes with a smirk on his face.

We both hear a weak sound that comes from the last toilet, which makes him break the eye contact, but I’m quicker than him and before he could even react I push him and spout, “Well it seems you forgot I don’t take orders from you, psycho!”

That wasn’t the best thing I could’ve said, cause he grabs me by my shoulders and violently hits me in the face with the back of his right hand.

He pushes me and I fall to the floor due to the blinding pain I feel in my face, especially in my lips. I unconsciously raise my hand and touch it with my fingertips while I taste the blood in my mouth. He fucking split my lip… I look at him with defiant eyes. There’s no way I’m going to back up.

The smirk is back in his face when he says, “I don’t care if you have to dress one of your skanks like her. I want the video for tomorrow or… Well, use your imagination to picture the consequences”. He leaves the bathrooms slamming the door behind him.

I’m standing up from the floor when Max gets out of the toilet, looking at me like I’m a wounded animal.

She puts her hand on her forehead. “Victoria, are you..”

I cut her before she continues talking. “Don’t! Just don’t, okay?” This is all her fault… I’m the Queen of this place. I’m the Queen of this fucking town. I’m not the one who’s knocked, I’m the one who knocks. I rush to my room without looking back. I’ve had more than enough for today.

 

* * *

 “It’s done! I’m going to queue it special delivery so it’s printed tomorrow first thing in the morning. I can’t wait to see her face”, said Juliet with a wide smile looking at the screen, feeling very proud of her work.

Dana hummed and moved to Juliet’s side, placing her hand on her friend’s shoulder to start reading the screen. When she finished she giggled and said, “Juliet! It’s totally rad but are you sure you wanna do this? She’ll go after you the minute she reads it.”

“I know Dana, but if I’m doing this I’m going for it whatever the cost is. This is not going to be the only surprise for our dearest Victoria Chase.”

“Anything on your mind?”

“I happened to have spot the guilty-for-spoiling-queen-bitch-outfit paint bucket and I have an awesome idea. You in?”

“Let’s go for it.” They high-fived and burst into laughter.

* * *

 

After finishing my first black coffee of the day I spend some time thinking about the outfit I’ll wear today. It doesn’t take me that long, as I have a natural gift for this and I know it. I’m a style reference for the entire town.

I’ll go for short black jeans with semi-transparent black tights and a white-buttoned shirt on top with a tailored black blazer. I want to add some color to my outfit, so I doubt between wearing a red bow tie or a red headband, but I quickly discard the second option. It doesn’t go with my blonde hair, and besides I don’t want to look like Blair Waldorf. Plus, and I never thought I would want this, I don’t want to draw attention to my face, so, red bow tie. Black lace-up shoes will do, I don’t want to wear heels today.

I look at myself in the mirror and see my harmed face. My lower lip has a visible deep cut and it’s very swollen, but the worst part is my cheek. It’s also swollen and it’s starting to be colored in violet. No need to say that it’s really sore. I can barely close my mouth due to the pain. I hope the make-up hides it.

I’m finishing doing my make-up trying to cover the bruises I have without success when someone starts to bang on my door.

“Victoria! Victoria! It’s Courtney! Open!!”

It’s not even half seven in the morning and that fucking mong is already here ready to make me lose my rag.

“WHAT?” I say while I open the door, only to find her holding a piece of paper in front of her nose. I carelessly take it out her hands and begin reading.

“Vic, what happened to your face?” Now that I have the paper in my hands she saw my bruised left cheek and split lower lip, but after looking at her with anger starting to show in my eyes she gets it and shuts the fuck up.

 

 _The Blackwell Totem_  
_“The Spirit of the News Since 1898”_

 _The end does not justify the MEANS_  
_By Juliet Watson_

_Once upon a time being popular in high school remained exactly where it belongs, the high school. But we are now facing a new information era that allows the Queen Bees to halt the wannabes more aggressively than ever._

_The background might have changed but not their classical delusions of grandeur, covered nowadays under a fashionable garçon haircut served with the traditional designer clothes on point while they exchange portfolios full of photographs that shout from the hilltops their true motto: me, me, me._

_Preppies born in the wrong State that want to go to a Liberal Arts College and share their unique perspective of the world by showing their photoshopped faces with a nice filter as the cherry on top who will shout you “go fuck your #selfie!” Yes, hashtag included in their word vomit._

_Or, to sum up the last two paragraphs, what happens when Mean Girls meets The Devil Wears Prada only exchanging the great Meryl Streep for Annie Leibovitz as a reference._

_This new generation of Queen Bees look nice even if they are covered in white paint and will do anything to tear you apart only to fuck their way to the top, using technology or old school, so make sure you are not anywhere around when they explode like the grenades they are._

_You never know if they are going to throw shade or glitter!_

 

I didn’t realize my mouth was open until I finished reading that fucking piece of shit. My ears and cheeks start to burn and my mouth start to spout expletives before clenching my jaw and breaking the paper into pieces. That fucking worthless skank… I look again at Courtney, she’s staring at me sweating bullets and my jaw drops to the floor. Not because of her, but because of the graffiti that is right to the side of Lamefield’s door. I move to place myself in front of it so I have a clear vision.

 _Icky Vicky slutty hoe,_  
_You ain’t nothing but a whore._  
_U think you’re cool, u think you’re classy,_  
_Reality check: you’re really trashy._

“Motherf….” That’s it. I’ve lost it. I can’t stop the ridiculous amount of curses and insults that come out of my mouth, without even noticing I’m yelling in a very high-pitched voice.

By the time I’ve finished everyone’s either on the hallway or peeking their head out of their doors to see what’s going on, and when I turn my head to the entrance I see fucking cow and ex-pregnant standing in the middle of the hallway looking at me with triumphal smiles on their faces.

“Enjoyed the article? I wrote it with love for you, Vicbitchia” says Juliet moving closer to me. She slightly furrows her eyebrows when she sees my bruises. We’re now only two meters away, I could jump and slit her throat. I have to suppress the impulse of punching her in the face.

“Lord knows you’re going to regret this.” That’s the only thing I manage to say. I can feel my pulse in my ears due to the anger I’ve accumulated in my body and I just hope I’m not shaking.

She slowly closes the space between us and when she reaches me she starts to move around me. I’m feeling sick. This is like having a bad nightmare. It’s almost like what I did to Max yesterday. Karma’s a fucking bitch…

“I have a last gift for you, Queen Bitch!” she smirks at me and strokes my good cheek, but the second she touches me I furiously shove her. She laughs at the contact, opens her arms as a thank you and starts to sing in a loop.

_Oh Vicky you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Vicky! Hey Vicky!_

Dana joins the catchy song and makes me a heart with her hands. I hear everyone laughing in the hallway. I spot Max’s eyes. She’s serious though… Courtney’s mouth is still open. Where the fuck is Taylor?

My head’s spinning due to the rage I have inside, which is probably visible in my face, but words won’t come out. I’m just standing there with my jaw clenched and my upper lip frowned like a predator listening to that stupid song while Dana and Juliet walk backwards to the entrance singing, making faces and sending me kisses.

Courtney finally grabs my arm and pulls me inside my room, slamming the door behind us. What’s going on here? I can’t believe this is true. I’m fucking Victoria Chase. This can’t be happening to me.

“I’m going to make their lives so miserable they’ll wish they could stop breathing.“

Like hell I will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Draaamaaaa! I really hope you've liked the article. Took me forever to think something a little bit smart hahaha


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Victoria wants revenge, Victoria gets revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I wanted to give you something funny before Ep 2 (two days!), so have this Queen Bees and Wannabes drama.
> 
> 2\. For all of you who have complain about my Icky Vicky calling Max "Sad Face", I'm not sorry and Imma keep using it cause I think it's pretty accurate and therefore funny. But don't worry, I have more names for her.
> 
> 3\. Thanks to Blamethebluebirds for being so lovely and helpful. Bluery, you're amazing!
> 
> Thanks for reading it and for all the support!

Courtney and I are standing in the middle of my room. She’s silent, waiting for me to speak first, as she knows it’s better to keep her mouth shout right now. 

I must look like a dragon about to spit fire from my mouth, cause I can feel my face boiling due to the anger and I have my fists clenched.

I don’t even know if Courtney’s aware of the gravity of the situation, and I’m not going to waste my precious time by explaining it neither to her or Taylor.

The only thing that’s important is to come up with something to handle this situation. Juliet has attempted to attack my reputation… I’ll put an end to hers in exchange.

“Courtney. Do you have any other copy of that fucking article?” I demand her impatiently.

There’s no time to self-pity. Not that I ever spend time doing it, cause I don’t have anything to self-pity for. But anyway, it’s time to react and get revenge.

“I’ve picked up every copy I’ve seen on my way here”, she says to me looking very concerned.

“Attagirl. Looks like I’ve trained you well.” I see her eyes light up and a shy smile appears on her lips.

I don’t think she got it… For fuck’s sake. I guess this is the proof that I’m surrounded by idiots, not that I needed one to state it though. 

I huff angrily and extend my hand to claim the paper before speaking.

“Courtney, what are you waiting for? A cookie? Give me one already!”

“Y-Yes, Victoria.” She starts looking in her bag and I stare at her watching her movements.

Suddenly a twinge of something that I reckon as guilt slightly shakes my mind. Maybe I’m being too harsh with Courtney and Taylor… Maybe. They deserve it for being so brainless, but they always have my back.

Courtney finally takes out the paper and handles it to me looking between concerned and worried, but I take it from her hand and kindly smile at her before muttering a thank you. I think I just heard her start breathing again.

I begin to reread the article.

“The end does not justify the MEANS”, I say out loud emphasizing the word mean.

I huff again. The bitch thinks she’s punny, but that tittle was so easy it’s almost sad to think about her lack of talent.

“Their classical delusions of grandeur, covered nowadays under a fashionable garçon haircut...”

I unconsciously raise the hand that isn’t holding the paper and stroke my blonde hair. Fuck her. My hair is perfectly trendy. I only have the best, even in my hair.

“Preppies born in the wrong State… That bitch must be still hooked on Gossip Girl. In 2013… I bet she listens to Britney Spears while she looks at herself in the mirror crying because she wants to be like Serena but she’s too poor to buy the kind of clothes she wears.” I giggle to my own comment and so does Courtney.

“This new generation of Queen Bees look nice even if they’re covered in white paint…”

I frown my lips, ignoring the pain I feel in my abused lower lip. Courtney involuntarily cringes and closes her eyes, fearing my reaction, but I don’t say anything about it. Of course I look nice even covered in white paint.

I return my eyes to the paper and keep reading.

“Make sure you aren’t anywhere around when they explode like the grenades they are…You never know if they’re going to throw shade or glitter” I clench my fists in anger, paper included, emitting a low noise that comes from the back of my throat.

“Throw shade or glitter. Fucking hoe… I’m going to throw her so much glitter she’ll choke with it!” I spit out, tossing the paper to the floor.

I spin around and look at the clothes I’m wearing. Fucking A… I chose a red bow tie over a red headband because I didn’t want to look like Blair Waldorf and turns out I actually fucking look a preppy today. 

I aggressively start fighting with the blazer to take it off, throwing it away when I’m done and then I start unbuttoning my white shirt, almost ripping it off my body. I furrow my eyebrows and puff looking at the red bow tie that is now on the floor.

I swear I’ll burn it later. 

“Vicky, you don’t have to change your clothes. You always look nice. I mean, perfect. You’re always flawless.”

I slightly jump in surprise. I was so focused on hating my clothes I forgot Courtney’s still here for a moment. 

I grab a grey chest-pocket blouse from my closet and start buttoning it, completely ignoring Courtney’s last remark cause that’s so obvious it doesn’t deserve any comment. 

Instead I ask her, “So, what do we destroy first? Her reputation or her appearance?”

“I don’t know. What do you think?” she answers, nervously rubbing her hands. 

I roll my eyes in frustration, regretting my last thoughts of her and wishing it could be possible to spend my money on buying her a brain. Even a monkey would be more helpful than Courtney right now.

“Let’s go for the first one with an old but gold prank. Call Taylor and tell her to take that bottle we used last time and to come here straight away. We have to move fast to catch those skanks in the cafeteria.”

I check my outfit on the mirror and decide to change my shoes for the grey ones I wore yesterday to match the blouse. I need to be perfect, even though that fucking jerk split my lip and left my face like a mess. Fucking asshole.

I start to touch up my make up to hide as much as possible my cheek but Taylor suddenly comes in panting, looking like she’s just run a marathon.

“Hold on, you two. I need to finish this before going”.

I hear them whispering in an almost inaudible tone and I know exactly what they’re going to ask me, so I turn around and tell them to speak in an imperative tone.

“Vic, if you don’t tell us what happened to you we won’t know it”, says Taylor timidly.

I narrow my eyes to her stupid statement. 

“You won’t, you won’t know it… Right. Whatever.”

I’m seriously starting to doubt whether they have something inside their heads or they’re simply filled with air.

“Ladies, _tempus fugit_.” I solemnly say to match the gravitas of the situation.

Courtney and Taylor’s faces are about to turn into emojis, so I simply open my room’s door, urging them to get out with my hand.

“That means shut up and move. I’ll explain the plan on the way.”

 

* * *

 

I stop at the entrance of the main building and sigh.

“Please tell me you got it. I’m not explaining the plan one more time… And we have to hurry.”

Courtney and Taylor look at each other, then they look at me again and nod. Great minds think alike. Only theirs aren’t great, and mine is, indeed. But whatever, I’m just glad I don’t have to explain everything again.

“Let’s go for it.” I inhale and then exhale the air slowly, showing a big smirk on my face. 

I’m actually a little bit nervous about this, as I want the plan to be perfectly performed and I don’t trust them to do it neatly, but I surely trust my prowess. Worst-case scenario, I’ll come up with something.

We walk together to the cafeteria, Courtney and Taylor where they belong, slightly behind me, and I dramatically open the doors like the Queen I am. It’s party time, bitches.

We stand at the entrance while I scan the room, feeling the noise fainting and everyone’s eyes staring at me, the doors closing behind us like in a teen drama movie.

I catch Max’s eyes. She’s looking at me as usual, with that sad expression glued to her face and I shiver in anger, remembering my split up lip. She’s sitting with that worthless whore, Marsh. What a lame pair. I bet she’s convincing Sad Face to record a new sex tape with her.

I continue my scan and spot Fucking Cow and Ex Pregnant sitting in the middle of the cafeteria, both with a coffee on their hands. Perfect.

Walking slowly towards them, I wide my smirk keeping my chin up and looking at them with playful eyes. 

“Oh look, here they are… The wannabes of Blackwell. Somebody let the dogs out and I’m here to put their leashes on again.”

I need them to stand up, but they’re going to do it any minute now. I don’t think I’ll need to bring out the big guns, it’ll be enough with some idle comments.

As we menacingly approach them, Juliet stands up, faces me with their arms crossed and says, “You didn’t have enough with our song? Maybe we can sing it all together for you to enjoy it.”

I sigh and frown to fake sadness and add some drama before speaking.

“I think your friend Dana would appreciate if you back up a little here and ask for my forgiveness… After all, nobody has secrets for me in this town. You know exactly what I mean.”

I allow a really big smile on my face, showing my perfect teeth. I have them up against the ropes. 

Dana jumps from her seat and faces me too, looking very nervous due to my veiled threat, but I slowly move to their right, nodding shortly as the signal for Courtney to discreetly open the bottle.

I close the gap between us and point to Juliet’s chest with my index without actually touching her.

“But anyway, Mss. Journalist, I can assure you that I’ll make your life so miserable Lana del Rey will write a song about you.”

She shoves my hand and almost shouts me, “Don’t you dare touching me with your bitchiness or I’ll have to fix your good cheek so it matches the other.”

I see Courtney pouring the liquid on Juliet’s coffee with the corner of my eye and I know it’s done. Sweet. Now we only have to wait for the glitter to be thrown in about… 20 minutes?

I involuntarily giggle at the thought and then say, “Don’t worry Juliet, you’re the last thing I want to touch. Like I told you yesterday, I don’t like the idea of getting slut on my hand. Now, if you excuse me...”

I turn around and walk to the doors without looking at anyone, especially not Lamefield, with Courtney and Taylor following my footsteps. We all relax once we’re out of the cafeteria. Plan went perfect and I’m not surprised. It was me who designed it.

“You put the laxative in Juliet’s cup, right?” I ask Courtney to confirm it. 

“Of course, Victoria.” She looks atwitter and I gift her a smile.

“Great job. Those are my girls.” 

I’m about to raise my hands to them so we can high-five when Taylor says, “We are like the Team Meatballs... I want to be Snooki!”

I instantly slap her in the forehead with my hand wide open.

“Compare me again with Jersey Shore’s fucktards and I’ll end you.” Sweet Lord, what did I do to deserve this?

First period is about to start, so it’s just a matter of time. We head to the classroom happily talking about all the designer’s clothes I’m going to buy next weekend in our trip to Portland. 

Ms. Grant arrives after a couple of minutes and opens the class. We enter the room and sit together next to the window, third row. I’m in the edge so I have a better angle of the whole class.  

This isn’t the best classroom to be waiting for the prank to happen, to be honest, but I managed to slightly move my chair and hold my characteristic pose. Now I can scan the room without being found guilty for suspiciously staring at the rest of the students.

Ms. Grant is talking us about… I don’t even know. I started paying attention, but as minutes went by I started to focus on analyzing Juliet’s movements.

This isn’t my usual behavior, but today I’m making an exception. I’ll throw shadow to everyone else with my knowledge during the next period. Right now I’m waiting for the shit to happen.

I see Max absently writing something on a piece of paper. She is looking at me out of the corner of her eye every now and then.

I may or may not be wanting to see what’s she’s up to, cause it’s obviously something about me. Otherwise she wouldn’t be looking at me, thinking I’m not aware.

I keep moving my eyes from Ms. Grant to Mss. Journalist and sporadically to Mss. Retro. Not too fast though… 30 minutes of class had gone by so far. Jesus, she’s bravely holding it.

Juliet begins to shift nervously on her chair. Holy fuck, this is happening. It takes some time for the laxative to work, but once it starts, there’s no way to stop it.

“Ms. Grant, can I please go to the bathroom?” Juliet exhales between shivers. She looks white as a sheet.

“Mss. Watson, you all had time to prepare yourselves for the lesson. I’m sure you can wait until the end of the class.”

I quickly grab my phone, unlock it and press the record button of the camera. This is going to be funny.

Juliet stands up grabbing her belly with her arms and begs the teacher with a lurid “Please”.

Suddenly, an incredibly loud fart comes out of Juliet, echoing in the whole class. Everyone’s jaws drop to the floor, and Juliet storms out of the classroom still holding her belly with her arms.

I have The Fartening recorded in my phone but I make sure it’s on the Cloud. Just in case.

Ms. Grant decides to finish the class early and let us go because there’s no way we can continue. Everyone is fighting to breathe between guffaws and I’m ecstatic. I should totally insure my brain.  

I grab _mes affaires_ and exit the classroom, but before I can make it to my locker I feel a sweaty hand wrapping my wrist and hear Max’s voice.

“Victoria…”

She’s looking at me with that expression I hate so much. The one that makes me want to rip off her head and put it on a spike in front of Blackwell Academy to shoo away all those self-proclaimed or not hipsters that seem to be everywhere. 

“Ew! Gross!” I say getting away from her touch.

I must have hurt Loserfield’s feelings, cause she absent-mindedly stares at my figure, crumpling the paper she had in class with both her hands. Frankly, I hope she has a party going on in her mind better than the one in Katy Perry’s T.G.I.F video to make up for her insufferable outer boredom.

After a few seconds of silence it dawns on me that she’s staring at my chest and I sort of blush.

Unsure if she’s actually staring at the perfect gifts Mother Nature granted me with or if she’s simply high on asininity, I furrow my eyebrows and snap my fingers in front of her nose. 

“Eyes off the goodies, weirdo!”

She jumps in surprise and the paper falls to the floor. We lock eyes for what it feels like an eternity until I see a sweat drop starting to form in her temple.

Facing each other like gazelles ready to jump, I slightly move my hand and drop my eyes to the floor for a second. This is my opportunity to take nosiness to the next level, which is absolutely acceptable and recommended given my social status.  

I abruptly bend down to pick up the note, but her brain seems to be suddenly functional and she does the same.

Obviously I’m faster than her and it’s me who reaches the note first, but when we stand up we bump our heads and Max lands on her butt.

I hear her letting out and expletive followed by a whimper and I bite my cheek to suppress the angry shriek that was about to come out.

I rub my forehead and spit, “Did your brain melted due to your retro bullshit or are you simply retarded?!”

She stands up and desperately tries to reach the note, but I shift my body, place my hand on her chest and leave it there to push her away, raising the paper at the level of my eyes with my other hand so I can read it.

_Victoria Chase the Queen of Arcadia Bay._

_Arcadia Bay the Queen of Victoria the Chase._

_Chase the Victoria of Queen the Arcadia Bay._

_Bay the Queen Arcadia of the Chase Victoria._

I finally let her take the note and look at her puzzled, with my eyebrow almost reaching my hairline. This girl throws nonsense around like a monkey throws crap. Seriously, what the fuck?

“Lamefield, are you addicted to snort developing fluid?”

We look at each other. Well, I glower at her. She’s looking at me with an emotion I can’t quite define showing in her eyes. For her own safety, I hope she’s not going to recall yesterday’s events. 

She finally says, “I know you’re better than all those mean comments, Victoria.”

Her presence is deeply annoying me. Even one minute of her weirdness is more than enough, so I recover my usual poker face and open my mouth to talk.

“You know nothing, Max Caulfield.”

I turn around and reach my locker, but she’s still by my side. I’d be fed up with my own existence if I were her... How does she manage to deal with herself? 

I’m not even looking at her when she says, “We need to talk about yesterday.”

I slam my locker’s door and finally look at her. 

“No. We need you to shut up and go fuck your stupid Polaroid. And by we, I mean the whole high school.”

She’s clearly not intimidated, cause she replies at once.

“I’ll be waiting for you in my room tonight.”

Before I can say any other word, she walks away without looking back. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Episode 2 happened, you know. 
> 
> Also, I have a ridiculous amount of things to do because of life. So I'm super sorry for the mistakes, but it was either publishing it now or in two weeks! I'll go through it later on, promise :)

I scan the crowded hallway looking for Loserfield’s back, but she’s disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“I’ll wait for you in my room tonight”, I mentally repeat copying Max’s voice.

God, she’s so annoying! I’m positive about her blatantly weirdness, which seems to have intensified after yesterday’s event, but that note? What does that even mean?

Whatever. Details of her awkwardness do not interest me. I clearly have more important things to do right now. First I need to upload Juliet’s video, and second, I need to deal with Nathan.

Step by step, Victoria.

I take out my iPhone and check the video. This… This is pure gold. This video is like winning the lottery.

Actually, it’s not like winning the lottery. Gambling’s for poor people. You buy tickets everyday and expect to win. This video is the result of a neatly performed plan that came out of MY mind.

When I thought I should totally insure my brain like Kardashian did with her massive booty I was kidding, but maybe I should actually think about it. I mean, I came with the idea in, what? Two minutes?

It took me two minutes to think of a plan that’s about to ruin Fucking Cow’s reputation. I burst into laughter and Evan turns his head to me with his eyebrows raised.

“What’s so funny?” he asks.

“Check your phone in about a minute and you’ll know”, I answer with my eyes still on the screen.

I enclose the video to the mail and select ‘send to all contacts’, typing the brilliant title I thought for this epic event: The Fartening.

Sent!

Evan has his phone in the hand, so I look at him first and then point with my eyes to the phone as an invitation to check it now.

My cheeks start to hurt and I realize the smile on my face’s bigger than Julia Robert’s mouth. I click my tongue and wipe the smile from my visage to allow a smirk. My smile is something so precious it has to be kept for special occasions.

This video along with Kate’s one being a slut will make people completely forget about that piece of shit Juliet published in the newspaper. I should probably use my contacts to completely ruin Fucking Cow’s life by getting her fired. It’s obviously not professional for a journal.

I’ll think about it and decide once I see everyone’s reaction to the video. Big guns are for boss battles. There are a million ways to ruin her reputation forever and Juliet isn’t worth my sharpest reaction.

Now, he’s worth my sharpest reaction. I see Nathan coming to me. He grabs me by the elbow when he reaches me.

“We need to talk. Come.”

I spin around and collide with someone, because obviously the Universe has something against me today.

Fucking Kate Marsh… Had to be her. She’s dropped her stuff all over the floor.

“Marsh, are you blind or what?!” I can’t help saying with my voice full of rage.

She kneels to pick up her things. My first instinct was to mirror Kate and help her to grab everything, but I ignore it because obviously.

“Victoria… I-I’m sorry. It was an accident…” she says half-heartedly.

I look at her with disdain and say, “Go bore someone else with your lame excuses.”

She’s so pathetic… But who would’ve thought she has a wild side. I wonder if she’s shown her nasty video to her lame squat so they can all pray for her dirty soul.

Nathan’s looking at me with amused eyes, so I let out a nervous hum before speaking.

“I bet you say the same about your sex tape, but we’ve all seen it” I say crossing my arms.

Kate stands up at stays in front of me without knowing what to do. She’s stares at my feet and mutters a weak sorry.

A twinge of guilt shakes my mind, but I see Nathan’s smirk out of the corner of my eye and I know I have to shoo her away. I can’t show any hint of weakness in front of him. Or anyone at all.

I lean closer to her face and say, “Blah blah. Get lost!!”

Kate looks like she’s about to cry, but doesn’t say anything. She just disappears from my visual field. Maybe I played it to hard on her… But I guess it’s done now and I can’t do anything about it.

Nathan’s still by my side. He’s not going to let me get away, is he?

He drags me to the back of the photography classroom, as there’s no one there yet. I sit on Hipster’s usual table and he stays in front of me.

“I thought I asked you to do something.”

“Give it a rest, Nate. It’s not even 10 am and you asked me last night”, I grunt annoyed.

He extends his arm to touch my face, but I shove it away with a slap. There’s no way I’m going to let this douchebag touch me again.

“Vicky, you I’m sorry about last night…. I know I can count on you”, Nathan says softly.

His fake soft tone annoys me even more. “Seriously? Look, Nathan. I don’t want… I’m not going to do it. ”

Nathan raises both his eyebrows and say, “It doesn’t matter if you want to do it or not. You HAVE to.”

“No”, I say looking away.

“What?” replies Nathan surprised.

“I SAID NO!” I shout, now looking at him.

He raises his arm to hit me and I involuntarily cringe, but I hear a voice coming from the main door that makes him stop.

“Leave her alone!”

I turn to the door and see Max. Fuck. Not her… Does she have a magnet for trouble? Two out of two.

“Oh. The girl I was looking for”, says Nathan with a crooked grin.

He moves to Max and I grab him by the jacket to stop him, but he pushes me away.

“I hope you remember what happened to your nerd friend yesterday.”

I run to Nathan before he can reach her and push him furiously.

“Stop it, Nathan!” I yell.

He recovers the position and clenches his fists before saying, “You’re going to regret this, Victoria… “

“Well, I’m failing to see how” I say lazily.

“Well, you’re failing to recall I saw you with Rachel that night”, he replies angrily.

My body’s suddenly paralyzed and my eyes flick open. If he’s smart enough he’ll realize he caught me by surprise… But he’s not, so I shift my body weight to my other foot and smile.

“I’m still failing to see why would I care about what you saw.”

The tension is so thick I could cut it with a knife. I hear Hipster giggle behind me.  

“Whoa… I’m failing to understand why you’re failing to everything.”

We both turn to Max and tell her to shut up at the same time.

Nathan doesn’t take her interruption that well though… He points Max with his index and starts to lean closer.

I move to her slowly and extend my arm to cover Max’s body.

“Fuck off, Nathan” I say fiercely.  

I guess he’s not that brave when you clearly face him. Nathan narrows his eyes and gets out of the class without saying anything. I also guess he’ll try to corner me later…. But for now this would do.

Max places her palm in the center of my back and says,  “Victoria…”

I turn to her and gift her a severe look.

“Don’t. Whatever it is you’re going to say, just don’t.”

But she doesn’t say anything. She hugs me. And she catches me off guard… Fuck. I just allowed Lamefield to hug me…

Max’s body is shaking slightly and her hands are burning my back. I notice the height difference when her breathing hits my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.

I’m not comfortable with having anyone this close. I just don’t like it. I prefer to keep the distance… but I hug her back. Poor thing must be scared and I feel something weird in my stomach. Must be sympathy.

Scared is a word that doesn’t describe me, but after Nathan hit me I’m a little bit nervous for having someone so close to my face. It’s kind of hard to omit the stabbing pain I feel whenever I move my lips.

She must have felt it, cause holds me tighter and I feel her steady breathing in my neck. Max suddenly deeply breathes in, like she wants to retain my scent, and I can’t help closing my eyes. I raise my arms and tangle my fingers in her hair, still with my eyes closed.

We stay like that for a long minute, until I notice her body isn’t shaking anymore.

I sigh…. This is starting to be awkward, so I tap her head and gently push her away, separating our bodies. I shudder when her warm hands leave my back.

Max’s eyes drop to her feet when she speaks, “Hey…you smell nice.”

I roll my eyes. “Of course I smell nice. I’m wearing a 150 dollar perfume.”

She looks at me with a feeble shade of red in her cheeks and smiles shyly.

“I know. You’re wearing Chanel Coco Mademoiselle.”

What? How does she know? She doesn’t know anything about fashion and I’m not making it up. Only a glance to her clothes and you can state it.

“How do you know?” I say looking at her with my eyes narrowed.

Suddenly I feel my body incredibly hot. My tomato probably looks like a face. Wait, what? What am I thinking?

She shrugs her shoulders and say, “I recognized the smell.”

I blush even harder and I don’t know why so I purse my lips, but the second I do it I let out a whine due to the pain.

Max’s eyes flick open and she raises her arm to hold mine. She touches the wrong place and I whine louder, backing up.

“What did Nathan do to you?” asks Max raising her hand to me again.

My face is probably showing with accurate precision what’s going on in my mind, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell her. Of course not.

“Loserfield, stop. We are NOT friends. So stop it.”

This time it’s me who turns around and exits the room without looking back. I really need a break from whatever it’s going on here, so I almost run to the bathrooms. I get in and look at myself in the mirror.

How the hell does she know Nathan hurt my arm? It could have been something else… but she asked what Nathan did to me.  She knows.

He came to my room yesterday and asked me to record a video of Max and I kissing so he could blackmail her. I know what he’s been doing lately with drugs and girls, so I refused and things got a little bit heated.

He grasped my arm and pressed it with way too much force. Now I have a nice bruise as a gift. I didn’t give it that much importance, but then he hit me in the bathroom…

I don’t know who he is anymore. Nathan used to be my closest friend, but he’s been acting weirdly for a few months. I tried to talk to him and get to know what’s going on, always with the same result. Aggressiveness. I stopped trying when I learnt he’s the one after the drugs affair in Blackwell.

There’s a huge difference between bitching about people because they’re idiots and drugging someone to have fun. I don’t even know what’s the point on doing it anyway, but I don’t want to be involved. 

Now I feel guilty because I agreed to trick Max into kissing me and record it. I obviously don’t want her to get actually hurt, but I guess Nathan has me between the Devil and the deep blue sea… Cops are desperately looking for clues about Rachel and Nathan saw us arguing the night she went missing. I didn’t do anything to her, we just… we had a stupid argument cause we were both too drunk. But who’s going to believe me?  Everyone here thinks I’m a heartless bitch. Plus, Nathan’s family practically owns Arcadia Bay, cops included.  His family is basically more powerful than mine.

What if people think I’m the one after Rachel’s disappearance? What if I get in trouble with the police? I fought him back because I didn’t want to record that video, but I thought about my reputation too.

I’m glad Max fainted in the hallway because I don’t know what Nathan plans to do to her. This can’t be about what happened between them in the parking lot. It’d be stupid to put so much effort in tearing her down just because she defended herself.  

I had the feeling this was more serious than it seemed, and after he hit me in the bathroom I knew I was right. So, I’m not going to let Nathan hurt Max. She’s deeply annoying with her hipster bullshit, but I feel like I have to protect her. Mostly because I don’t think that sad human being could protect herself from someone like Nathan. He’s capable of anything to get what he wants. My face proves it.

But anyway… There’s something going on in Blackwell and I don’t know the details, which is surprising. And unacceptable.

I’ll start with Caulfield. She knows something and apparently has information she just can’t have access to. Also, she seems to know all the right answers and that’s simply suspicious.

I guess I’ll take her invitation to talk in her room this night so I can find some answers. I picture myself sitting in Lamefield’s bed and immediately blush at the thought, but I shake my head to snap out of it.

Right, I’m going to call my minions so we can get out of here and have a coffee outside Blackwell.

I take my phone and text Courtney.

_Main doors. We going out. Now._

I exit the bathrooms and get out of the building. Not even a minute goes by when they appear by side.

“Where are going?” asks Courtney.

“To have a coffee”, I say starting walking.

We head to the private parking lot and I take out the keys from my purse. Of course I wouldn’t leave my convertible in the public one. He’s one of my babies.

I press the button to unlock it, open the door and sit on the driver’s seat. Courtney seats on the front and Taylor on the back.

The weather is still nice, so I start the car and press the button to put the top down.

“Court, put on Britney Bitch’s album. I looove her”, says Taylor from the back seat.

Courtney opens the glove compartment, grabs the CD, pulls it into the player, and selects the third song. _Radar_ starts to sound while I speed up and head to the exit of the main parking lot.

When we’re about to leave, a red van comes out of nowhere from our left and stops short, almost crashing with us. Courtney, Taylor and I scream in fear.

I raise my eyes and see that trashy girl with blue hair who used to be glued to Rachel’s ass with… fucking Sad Face on the passenger seat. What the…? Seriously?

_I’m checking you. So hot. So hot. Wonder if you know, you’re on my radar_

The song keeps playing and the lyrics are distracting me because… because…

I catch Max’s blue eyes and we stare at each other for a couple of seconds.

I’m even angrier than before and I can feel my face getting red. I shout at them with a choked voice.

“Don’t you have eyes in your fucking face or what?”

_And when you walk. And when you talk. I get the tingle, I wanna mingle, that’s what I want_

“No shit! Check it out Max, bitches come in packs!“ cries that kinky bitch.

_Hey listen baby, turn up the fader. Tryna make you understand you’re on my radar_

“We come in packs you can’t even afford looking at!” I shout louder, making my voice lose its usual pitch. 

I turn my head to Courtney and order her to stop the stupid song. I obviously don’t have anyone on my radar!

I’m getting nervous because of the fucking lyrics, and even more nervous because I don’t even know why they’re making me nervous. My knowing nothingness is intensifying and that is utterly intolerable.

“Hey bae, I have a song for you!” says Blue Trash.

She starts shouting the lyrics to us, “Gucci, Gucci, Louis, Louis, Fendi, Fendi, Prada!  Them basic bitches wear that shit so I don’t even bother!”

Did she just say what I think she said? We three look at each other with our mouths opened in surprise.

I want to get out and strangle that bitch with my bare hands. I grab the bottle of water I have on the cup holder and throw it to that piece of shit she dares calling a car. The water splashes all over the glass.

It seems like that amused her even more, because she says with a playful tone, “Bitch got offended! Suck it, Vicbitchia!!”

She shows me her middle finger and burst into laughter.

My eyes land on Max. I see her laughing with her eyes closed and a hand on her mouth. What the hell is she doing with that trash anyway?

“Mayday, mayday, Earth to bitch. Go get some manners!” I manage to bark.

I squeeze the steering wheel and speed up, finally leaving the parking lot.

Blue scumbag’s on my black list now. She’ll regret this.

“That was intense”, says Courtney giggling.

“That Clover is an asshole”, replies Taylor giggling too.

“What was Sad Face doing with her anyway?” asks Courtney.

There’s a short pause in their idle comments. They’re probably waiting for me to join this stupid conversation, but I’m not in the mood.

“I bet she’s taking her out for lunch” finally states Taylor.

“Yeah. They’re totally having oyster stew today”, says Courtney laughing.

Taylor joins Courtney’s laugh and I furrow my eyebrows. They’re being really annoying right now.

“Enough! Shut up you two!” I spit out without thinking.

A vivid image of Blueshit kissing Max pops in my mind out of the blue. I see her almost absorbing Loserfield’s mouth and running her hands all over Hipster’s body.

I hold the steering wheel with brutal force and my foot involuntary presses the gas pedal all the way down, making the car go at top speed.

“Victoria? Why are we going so fast?” says Courtney.

I ignore her.

Another image replaces the one that was hammering my mind. Now I see myself leaning to Max’s face in third person, like I’m there but I’m not there at the same time. I see myself pressing her body against mine with one hand on her waist and the other one on her neck. I see myself kissing Max’s lips softly.

My jaw drops to the floor while my face becomes a volcano.

What the actual fuck is going on here? What. The. Fuck. I hate Max Caulfield. I hate her with everything I am and everything I have. I don’t want to kiss her. I’d never ever want that.

I start hitting the gas pedal with my foot repeatedly because I need to hit something. The car starts jerking.

“VICKY!!!!” screams Taylor.

I come back to Earth and look at the rear mirror to see Taylor’s face. She’s looking at the front with her hands grasping the front seats. Her face is a poem.

I slow down and stop the car on the side of the road. Once I stop the engine, I relieve a sigh.

“I changed my mind. I wanna go back to school. I’m not feeling good right now.”

“You-You want me to drive?” mutters Courtney.

“I’d rather punch myself in the face than letting anyone drive my baby” I say starting the Mercedes.

We head back to Blackwell and I mentally wish the day doesn’t get more awkward that it already is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Szept because this chapter would've been a piece of s*** without his help.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay peeps, like Victoria (you’ll see) I don’t know how the hell this happened, but it’s done and I have no regrets. So… yeah…. Have some trashy smut. 
> 
> Also, thanks Blamethebluebirds. Thanks for being such an incredible human being. You’re always lovely, helpful and inspiring. One day you’ll accept this.

How? HOW?

That’s the point. How did this happen?

I’m standing in the middle of Max’s room, looking at her with one hand resting in my hip. It doesn’t matter how hard I think about it, I don’t how this has happened. How did I get to this point? What am I doing here? Why is my chest so heavy now that I have Max in front on me? Why can’t I stop feeling furious about Max being with the blue haired girl? Why do I want Sad Face to be mine? Me, Victoria Chase. With Max Caulfield… 

WHY? This is a really bad joke. 

The tension between us is almost palpable. Is this sexual tension? I don’t know. I’m just trying to think about the facts and leave those questions for later because this situation is blowing my mind. For now I know we’re dangerously close, my breathing is quite heavy and my mind’s raging due to what it seems to be jealousy.   

“Whatwereyoudoingwiththatgirl?” I ask her speaking too fast. I hope my word vomit doesn’t show my nervousness. 

“Why do you care?” Replies Max in a defensive tone. 

I breathe deeply to relax before speaking again.

“Just say it already.” I answer trying really hard to sound calmed. 

“She’s just a friend.” She retorts crossing her arms.

“What kind of friend?” I demand impatiently. 

Her previous answer doesn’t satisfy me, and I’m not backing up till I’m satisfied. Although I don’t really know where do I want to get with all this.

“What do you mean exactly?” She asks me looking genuinely confused.

Before I can think about it, I cover the space between us and push her until her back hits the door using my own body. Her breathing is as heavy as mine. My arms, I need to do something with my arms. I grab her wrists and pin them above her head while I lean close enough to have us breathing the same air.

“What. Kind. Of. Friend.” I say emphasizing each word. 

“Eh? I-I… I…. I don’t know… The kind of friend that is a friend?” Max stammers blushing deeply. 

I readjust my body so my breasts are pressing her chest and I force my right leg in between hers. While I do it, I move my hands so I can pin both her wrists with one of them, moving the one that is now free to Max’s hair. I gently fist my hand in her hair. She replies to the pressure I apply with my thigh by writhing against me.

“You know I always get what I want.” I say tracing her lips with my eyes. 

“O-Okay…” She barely babbles, with her face looking like a tomato. 

“And I hate you.” I state clenching my fist harder. “But I want you.” I whisper pulling Max’s head closer to mine and locking eyes with her.

Max lets out all the air she has left in her lungs the second I say it. I take her silence and that heavenly hot sound as an invitation to take what belongs to me, her everything. 

I playfully lick my lips holding her gaze, leaning closer to her face until my lips are almost brushing hers. Max’s pale blue eyes are drilling mines and her hot breath is hitting my wet lips. I can feel her body shaking, but I know what I want, and I know what to do to make her stop shaking. Eventually.

My eyebrow rises a little as a silent question. Her body movements are completely inviting me to go ahead, as she’s been unconsciously jerking her hips against my thigh. My body movements are completely suggesting I need her closer, even though there’s practically no space in between our bodies. 

She closes her eyes and softly crushes her lips with mines. I waste no time in deepening the kiss, unpinning her wrists and moving my arms to her waist so I can pull her closer to my body.

I don’t know how much experience she has in this, but I have enough. I capture her lower lip with my teeth and lick it with the tip of my tongue. She moans in my mouth to the contact and I take the opportunity to dig my tongue in her mouth. She strokes my hair and pulls my head closer so I can kiss her deeper. 

Max’s hands wander through my back and I slip mines inside her tee so I can actually caress her skin. Oh god, her skin’s so soft… I move one of my hands to her butt and grab it with rather force while our tongues wrestle hungrily. 

She lets out a louder moan when I grab her ass, but she moves her head and breaks the kiss to breathe. I’m not ready to let her separate from me, so I take the opportunity to tease her by running my tongue all the way up her neck. I lick her skin with deliberate slowness until I reach her earlobe.  I make sure my breath hits her ear softly before I capture her earlobe with my teeth and suck it.

This is getting serious, but if I’m doing this, I’m doing this right. I remove my leg from her crotch and return my mouth to her face, digging my tongue deep in her mouth again. Wet sounds keep coming out due to the battle our tongues are fighting inside our mouths, both of us letting out soft moans. 

I lift her by pulling her body up from her butt and she encircles my waist with her legs, scratching my back with her short nails. I press Max’s body harder against mine and I move us to the bed, placing her back on the mattress so that I rest on top of her. She can’t help putting her hands inside my blouse and scratching my skin now. Her tongue, her hands and the way she thrusts her crotch against my pelvis are completely driving me crazy. 

I break the kiss only to run my tongue all the way down her neck to her collarbone. Once I get there, I gently bite her skin, taking some with my teeth and sucking it hard enough to gift her a possessive hickey. She gasps, reaching for some air. 

“Oh my god.” It’s all she manages to say. 

“Fuck.” It’s all I manage to exhale against her skin.

This is too hot. 

“Fuck what? What’s going on Vicky?” I hear a voice coming from my right. 

Mhm? I blink and I’m not in Max’s room anymore. I’m in my car, holding the steering wheel so hard my knuckles are white. It suddenly dawns on me I’ve been daydreaming about fucking Sad Face. 

Seriously? This… I… NO. Just, no. No, no, no. I mean, no. Never. I wasn’t daydreaming about kissing fucking Hipster. Also, I don’t like her. Plus, I’m not jealous of Blue Trash. On top of it, those kisses weren’t even hot. Not that I was daydreaming about kissing her. No.

I hate Loserlfield. I hate her everything bullshit. Who has a Polaroid as a main camera in 2013? I know whom, fucking Max Caulfield. Who’s always trying to be nice and help people? I know whom, fucking Max Caulfield. I hate the way she babbles when she talks. I hate her sudden fascination for her shoes when I stare at her. I hate the sound of her laugh and I also hate those damn cute freckles she has all over her face…

NO! Not cute. I meant lame. Those lame freckles.

A shriek escapes from my mouth and I hit the steering wheel to alleviate the frustration I’m holding inside. 

And then, jealous? Me? I’m Victoria Meribeth Chase. I’m not jealous of anyone. If so, I’m jealous of myself for being so flawless. I could take a dump classier than Blue Trash. That girl thinks she’s a badass, but she’s the worst shit in this town. I remember her being glued to Rachel’s ass. Like, she doesn’t even have personality. She’s just… Ugh! 

What was Max doing with her anyway? Are they together? They can’t be together. Hipster’s too lame to hang out with that scum…. What if they’re together? Like, together together.

Another shriek escapes from my mouth. This one louder.

I look away through the window and bite the knuckles of my left hand to suppress the urge of start hitting the gas pedal again. I don’t want Taylor to throw up inside the car and spoil the seats. She’s looking white as a sheet and hasn’t said a word since my rage meltdown after seeing fucking Thelma and Louise. 

I’m feeling uncomfortable, so I move my body and accommodate it on the driver’s seat. 

Oh… 

Moving wasn’t a good idea… I just realized my pants are, well… They are… They’re wet….

Did I piss my pants? Yes. Must be that. I’d rather piss my pants than be wet because of Lamefield. That’s simply unlikely to happen. 

Damn… God Damn. I can fool everyone else, but I can’t fool myself. That dream made me horny. My cheeks are burning so much I could fry an egg on them right now. I start fanning myself with one hand because I can’t even.  

“Victoria why are you blushing so hard?” Courtney suddenly asks me. Was she looking at me all this time?

“W-What?” I murmur, still fanning my face.

Her eyes flick open as she speaks. “O-M-G. You were daydreaming!”

“I wasn’t daydreaming!” I aggressively deny.

“You can’t hide it, Vicky. Who were you thinking of?” She says furrowing her eyebrows with a smirk on her face.

I’ll just make up something so she shuts the fuck up already. I know Courtney and she’s not going to let it go.

“I was thinking about Ma-AAike. MIKE.” I barely correct myself. Oh God, I can’t think straight.

Courtney narrows her eyes. “Mike what?”

I nervously look at everything inside the car, but I can’t find anything compelling enough as a name. I drop my eyes and see the pedals. It could work. 

“Mike uh… Gas. Mike Gas.” I say looking away. 

“That’s funny. I’ve never heard of a Mike Gas at our school.” Courtney replies.

Well, it didn’t work. 

“It’s not my fault you have fish memory. You’re like that stupid fish in that stupid Disney movie.” I yelp in frustration.

“Sure Vic.” She says pursing her lips. 

“I’m feeling sick…” Taylor’s weak voice comes from the back of the car. 

Courtney and I look at each other first, and then we turn our heads to Taylor. I accidentally mirror the movement of my head with the steering wheel and the car moves to the right abruptly. That makes Taylor retch. I correct the movement of the car and hope she holds her shit together till I can stop. 

“Victoria, stop the car.” Courtney says with her eyes wide open. 

“I can’t stop here.” I reply, starting to sweat.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up…” Taylor tilts her head and covers her mouth with one hand.

Please, not inside the car… Not inside my convertible….

“Taylor, I’m seriously warning you, if you dare spoiling the seats I’ll make you lick them till they’re spotless.” 

“Euh! That’s gross!” Courtney cries slapping my arm.

“Euh, that’s gross.” I imitate her voice. “You’re gross!” I spit out with my eyes on the rear mirror, looking at Taylor. 

“Stop the car now!” Courtney demands vigorously.

“I CAN’T STOP THE CAR HERE!” I yell.

“She’s going to throw up!” She cries pointing at Taylor with her hand.

Courtney huffs angrily, grabs the steering wheel and pulls it to the right. I slap her hand and straighten the car up, but she shrieks in anger and grabs the steering wheel again, pulling it to the right with more force now. We fight for the control of the steering wheel for a couple of seconds while the car zigzags around. 

“Oh my god…” Taylor manages to say. She’s pale as a ghost.

“Not inside the fucking car!” I screech, blindly pushing her head with one arm so she moves to the window.

That wasn’t the smartest movement to make, cause it seems like I’ve opened Pandora’s box. The inertia makes Taylor slip to the door and she starts puking with violence to the outside. I’m glad I own a convertible.

Courtney realizes what’s going on and begins squealing like a stuck pig. She grabs her purse and starts hitting my arm with it. I start screaming too, covering my head with my arm.

“Bitch! You’re hitting me with the Fendi I gave you as a present!” I bark.

“This is all your fault!” Courtney shouts. 

I slow down while Courtney keeps yelling and hitting me with the purse, finally stopping the car in the right side of the road. Taylor’s still like an open faucet, throwing up at least what she ate yesterday.

With the car completely stopped, Taylor opens the door and collapses to her knees trying to get out. I watch her movements and feel incredibly sorry for her. She doesn’t look like she’s having the time of her life.

There’s another bottle of water in the glove box, so I open it, grab the bottle and go to Taylor’s side. Before handling it to her, I put some water in my hand and spread it on her neck so she feels a little bit better. Taylor mutters a soft thank you.

I refuse to look at the car. I don’t want to see the mess.

“I’m sorry Victoria. I’ll clean it later.” Says Taylor wiping the tears from her face.

I don’t want to make her feel worst, so I do my best to cheer her up. “Oh, shut up, Tails. Are you feeling any better?”

“I think so… Not that I have any food left in my body to throw up though.” She says looking really embarrassed.

“Come on, we’re just a mile away from Blackwell. Let’s get you cleaned up and then we’ll order sushi for lunch after classes.” I reply pinching her cheek with my fingers.

“Thanks Vicky.” Says Taylor staring at my feet. 

“You’re not covered in puke, are you?” I separate a little to check her outfit and giggle.

That makes Taylor giggle too. I hug her softly to show her some support. Unfortunately, I remember the paint incident very well and I know how bad it is to feel vulnerable. Max had the opportunity of laughing at me, but she didn’t take it. Of course she would’ve paid for it, but what matters is that she didn’t do it. I guess smashing someone when they show weakness is very easy…

I tap Taylor’s head with affection. “Alright bitch, let’s go.”

We get into the car and I see Courtney sitting in the front seat with her arms crossed. She didn’t even bothered getting out of the car to help Taylor. Why is she so mad anyway? Now that I think about what just happened I really think it was hilarious.

“Oh come on, Courtney! It was actually really funny.” I say to her bursting into laughter.

“It was funny indeed. I’ve puked rainbows back here.” Taylor backs me up.

Courtney giggles to her comment, quickly joining my laugh. So does Taylor.

We cover the mile left to Blackwell laughing our heads off with the sun warming our cheeks. If it weren’t for my abused face I’d have Courtney take a selfie of us to remember the day Taylor almost puked rainbows inside my convertible.

It’s only when we get to Blackwell Academy that reality hits me in the face and I force myself to think about all the events. These days are super awkward, but at least we have each other’s backs. I guess I’m losing my temper too much lately…

Maybe I should stop bitching about everyone so aggressively. It’s good to remind people I’m the Queen of this place, but I’m not that mean. I don’t know if I want to keep pushing people away with nasty comments, like I did before with Marsh by reminding her about the video. That doesn’t mean I’m going to dramatically change the way I act. I am who I am, and I’m not going to change for anyone. But perhaps relaxing a little bit my attitude would be good for me. After all, I spend the days on the alert, and yes, sometimes I overreact. I’m not trying to justify myself, but I bet nobody could handle the pressure I have to deal with. My parents, the Vortex Club, my social status, Nathan’s threats and abuses, Caulfield…

In fact, what about that dream? It doesn’t make sense. I’m not making sense. I was supposed to kiss her yesterday because I had to record that video for Nathan and I didn’t want her to be close to me. Not in past tense, I actually don’t want her to be close to me. So, why is my mind doing this to me? I just don’t want her to get hurt… For whatever reason. Well, she didn’t make fun of me, and she stopped Nathan when he tried to hit me in the classroom before. That’s a good point, isn’t it? This is so confusing it’s giving me a headache. I don’t think I can find the answers for all the questions I have about her and about my behavior towards her. At least not right now.

Also, I’m worried about Nathan… I don’t want to involve my dear minions in this difficult situation with him, but I also guess I need some support. Max knows something about everything that’s going on, and she probably can help me dealing with Nathan. I’d rather do things myself, but I’m starting to feel trapped and anxious. I just hope trusting Hipster’s a safe bet, or I’m going to be really fucked up. I mean, even more than I already am.

I was digging so deep in my mind I didn’t realize I’ve already parked the car and my girls are outside waiting for me to get out. We still have some classes left and I already want to call it a day. I put the top up, get out and walk with them to the main building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for all the mistakes this chapter could have. I really don't have time to go through it a zillion times to correct them all right now. I'd be super glad if anyone could beta read the future chapters, to be honest.


	8. Chapter 8

So, here we are. Back in class. What a lame way of wasting time… Not that being in high school is a waste of time per se, but I’m not exactly interested in learning details about tangents or limits. I’m interested in learning any detail for small it could be about photography. That’s the one and only reason I decided to stay here in Blackwell. Because of its photography program. Yet, here I am stuck in Math class learning details about tangents and limits, waiting for this class to finish and the next one to start; Language of Photography.

Not paying attention is not my style, mind everyone. Were this place a TV show like Game of Thrones, I would belong to royalty. I’m the Cersei to real life. I am the Queen. And I’m afraid I’m a boring Queen. I keep repeating this not only to everyone else, but also to myself in my mind. Like, all the time. This academic year has barely started and the only way I have to remind people how influent and powerful I am is by repeating it all the time. Things are out of control, of my control, and that is not acceptable.

In any case, this class is boring enough to let myself get lost in my thoughts. We are sitting on the back, and I really need this break to think about everything that’s going on for the… I don’t even know how many times I already disconnected from reality to think about everything that is going on.

Right, let’s sum up.

That Rachel Amber was a constant pain in the ass, always showing up in my Vortex Club parties. Always drinking the cocktails I generously provide my parties with. Always eager to be the center of attention. Always making scenes with that friend of hers, Clover? Cleo? Chloe? Who cares… And then, suddenly, one day she was gone. Without leaving any clues, as the police said. I don’t even know how to begin explaining I have nothing to do with her mysterious disappearance. And it’s not my problem, of course, had I not been caught fighting with her by Nathan.

It was just a stupid fight. It was months ago. We were both drunk. End of story. The party was starting to die and I reckon I drank too much that night because I wasn’t having the time of my life, given the fact that Rachel was drawing the attention, as she fucking took out her shirt in the middle of the dance floor. Were did she think she was? In a fucking Britney Spears video clip? Whatever. I went out to take some fresh air and smoke a cig, and she happened to have the same idea. So yeah, I couldn’t stop my word vomit about her cheeky behavior in MY party. After that, she went straight to my throat.

I did nothing else but protect my integrity, but perspective is something very important in this life. Now, apparently Nathan’s perspective on that stupid fight is entirely different to the one I have, and he found that as his personal gold mine to have control over me. He was there, camera in hand. As usual. He’s not even in photography program, why does he like so much to record fucking videos? Oh yeah, because he’s an asshole.

That little piece of shit that goes by the name Nathan didn’t do anything with that information straight away. He kept it to himself to use it in the right time, I guess. Summer came and I went to L.A. with my parents, so I heard nothing about him. At least not directly, but I heard some rumors though… Rumors about him dealing drugs and recording videos. Rumors I wish weren’t true, but unfortunately rumors that came up to be true. Just two weeks ago my Vortex Club threw a party and somehow Kate Marsh was there. She was literally too smash to walk and started to hook up with a bunch of idiots. Who would have thought? Pure, innocent, abstinent Kate Marsh. Or more like Kate Mars. She didn’t seem to have her feet on Earth in that moment.

Once again, who cares? It’s entirely not my fault she can’t control herself when she drinks. No wonder she doesn’t usually do it. The whole point is, there he was, Nathan Prescott, camera in hand. He recorded everything, and I didn’t even pay attention until I recalled the events of that night. He took Kate to ER and she showed up in Blackwell the next morning, having successfully turned into the official slut of the academy, soon to be known by the whole State. Nothing else happened after that, until this fucking week started, and guess who was in the spotlight? Maxine Caulfield. She manages to piss everyone around her with her attitude.

But anyway, I bet she didn’t realize how fucked up she was going to be when she messed with Nathan. No one dares doing that to Nathan Prescott. Is Max living under a fucking rock or what? One month in Blackwell is more than enough time to realize Nathan’s family owns half this place; therefore, he acts like he owns this place. Even my father licks his father’s ass. I’m just glad they’re not into the same kind of business, or Prescott would have smashed him long time ago.

My god, reporting Nathan to the principal and then scratching his face? Caulfield knows how to hold her shit together.

After that blatantly brainless movement, Nathan is after her. It’s a fact. He’s after Caulfield and he wants to put an end to her everything. Few details escape from my radar, so I know she got out of Blackwell with that blue-haired piece of shit who will pay for having messed with me and my dear girls. I swear to God, she will pay for that. If only people find out she faced me… That’s a risk I’m not willing to take. I’m Victoria Chase, and I smash anyone who dares confronting me.

Where was I? Ah yeah. So after Caulfield disappeared from Blackwell for her own sake, Nathan came to me, and without looking for it, I found myself being the key point to carry out his plan; have Max dealing with the same situation as Kate. Sooo, yeah, he ‘asked’ me to record us on video so he could blackmail her. That’s a fucking stupid plan, come to think of it. Caulfield doesn’t have any reputation here, the only one that would be damaged would be mine, but how do I say no to him? He has me by my female balls.

I wish, I just wish I could tell anyone else Nathan’s plan. We will laugh together at how stupid it is. Here’s his plot: I invite Caulfield to my room, then I trick her into kissing me and make it look like she was the one that wanted to. He takes the video and shows it to Caulfield so he can blackmail her with sending the video to her parents and the principal if she doesn’t come to his room straight away. Do I wanna know what’s he going to do to her in his room? No, I certainly don’t want to. Do I wanna take part in all of this? Since I’m not stupid, I don’t want to. Do I care about what could happen to Caulfield? I… No. I don’t. Maybe. She’s super lame and usually infuriates me. What’s with all her retro bullshit? Like, ‘oooh, look at me! I’m Max! I take photos with a Polaroid and I’m a super good person! I help people!’

But I may not want her to get hurt.

Actually, she really confuses me. I know I’m supposed to hate her, but I can’t hate her. She didn’t do anything to me, besides being unpopular. What’s with popularity anyway? I’m popular and people think I’m a heartless bitch. When they see me, they only see numbers. They only see the money I have, or the amount of friends I have in social media. Yet I don’t think I have more than two friends, Court and Tails.

That’s really sad… This makes you turn into a heartless bitch to please everyone else so you can remain on top of everyone. People like Alyssa… Why do they crave for popularity so bad? It’s like a curse. I have money, I have power, and I have popularity, but I’m too far away from being happy. Beside Courtney and Taylor, the only one that has shown me genuine affection has been Max. Maybe that’s the reason why I feel the need to protect her. Plus she’s kinda, slightly… cute? I never thought I would think this. I mean, I’ve never been into girls before. Not that I like her. Or maybe? No, no. Definitely no. This feeling must be something closer to respect than attraction.

Returning to what’s really important right now, I have nothing to do with Rachel’s disappearance. And more important, I don’t think Nathan has to do anything at all with it to be honest. I’ve known him for more years than I can count with my hands. We grew up together. I don’t want to actually call him stupid, but he is stupid enough to be influenced by someone else to do all these things he’s doing lately. He’s also very unstable. I don’t know about the problems he’s dealing with, but he’s not the mastermind of this twisted plan. No, he’s working for someone else because there’s something else, something deeper… though I don’t know what it is for now.

In fact, and this has me really worried, I think I might the next one. Either me, or Caulfield. And of course I don’t want to be involved in anything that’s going on, but I also don’t want her to be involved. She’s… too sweet. Too innocent.

Sweet Lord, what is happening to me? I’m like an emotional rollercoaster lately. I’m suddenly boiling in anger, then I quickly change to feel like I’m on top of the world, and finally I return to the anger. And then there’s that horrible feeling… Like now. Like my chest is heavy, and I can’t breathe at all. I feel desperate and hopeless in those moments. I can’t breathe, and I need to cry, but tears won’t come out immediately. They only come out when no one’s listening, because I get to the point where I can’t hold them anymore.

Since I’m not stupid, I know it is anxiety and those episodes are panic attacks. But what do I do? How do I deal with all my feelings? I feel so trapped…   

Ah, headache. Major headache. I’m mixing everything up. The more I dig into my mind, the more anxious I feel.

“Victoria!” Courtney’s voice makes me snap out of it. “Were you even listening?”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I ask her.  She’s right, I wasn’t listening.

“I said the bell just rang and now we have a 10 minutes break. You wanna go for a coffee?” Replies Courtney. 

“But no more car! Just go to the cafeteria.” Taylor says in a rush. She hasn’t recovered yet from my frenzied drive.

“I…”

But I can’t say anything. I feel a horrible pain in my chest and words won’t come out because I have a lump in my throat.  I just stand up and walk to the door. I need a minute in the bathroom. Alone. 

“Where are you going? We only have ten minutes!” Says Courtney raising her voice. 

“I’ll be right back.” I say over my shoulder with a strangled voice.

I walk really fast to the bathrooms without looking at anyone and close the door behind me.

“All right Victoria. Focus. Relax. Breathe. Don’t let the tears come out.” I barely say, trying to control my voice.

Who do I want to fool? I can’t even convince myself. I look at myself in the mirror and actually see my flawless skin spoiled with bruises. Two stupid tears fall down and my breath cracks. I’m feeling so trapped… Arcadia Bay seems a really hostile place right now, even for me. 

“Victoria?”

The voice takes me by surprise, so I turn around to see who’s there.

“Caulfield?” I can’t believe she’s here. 

Turning around really quick, I wipe the tears from my face, but I catch her eyes in the mirror. I forgot for a second that we’re in the bathroom, therefore, there are mirrors everywhere. Of course she’s here. I don’t know how, but she seems to be everywhere lately. Like she’s a step ahead and knows what’s happening all the time.

Her expression is only making things worst. She’s looking at me like I’m a wounded animal she needs to help.

“It’s okay, Victoria. I’m here. I’m here for you.” She says raising her hand to me.

“How can you say that, you dumbass? You don’t even know what’s going on.” I hurl, although it wasn’t my intention to make it sound like that.

“I do. “ She states looking genuinely sure about it.

“You don’t know shit.” I reply, knowing that I’m right. She doesn’t know shit about anything that’s going on. Basically because there’s no way she can know it. 

“I do, Victoria. And I’m still here. For you.” She insists, with a sad smile on her face.

While we hold gazes, my breathing betrays me and I let out an anxious sigh before some rebel tears fall down my face again.

“Victoria… Can I get closer?” Says Max in an incredibly soft voice. It’s really confusing and comforting, all at the same time.

The floor has a sudden attraction to my eyes and I can’t take them off it, but I nod to let her know the answer. My eyes meet her feet and I realize how much I don’t care right now about the fact that she’s wearing Converse. We bitches gonna bitch, but anxious bitches can’t bitch, not even about Converse. 

A wild sob escapes from my body when I feel the touch of her hands in my arms. Again, it feels so confusing and comforting, all at the same time.

“Tori, can I hug you?” Her voice is incredibly sweet and soft this time. More than before. It feels good.

I know for sure that if I try to speak right now my voice will break, so I nod again to let her know the answer.

Her hands slip through my sides and hold my back, her body tenderly pressing mine. I didn’t think I needed this, but I do.

My hands hold her back too, and I rest my chin on her collarbone. I’m shaking really hard.

“It’s okay, Tori. Let it out. I’m here, for you.”

Her sweet voice was apparently everything my body needed to slightly relax and let it out. I start crying quietly, as I still have some dignity.

I focus in controlling my breathing with Max’s sweet scent intoxicating my brain, slowly letting the tears soak her tee. She holds me tighter when I clumsily try to hide a sob.

We spend some minutes in that position, until my flood of tears gradually begins to die. She doesn’t do anything other than caressing my back and stroking my hair, without a word.

My nose is running now and I can’t help making some awfully loud sounds, but I don’t want to move, not even to get some paper. From all the sniffling, a bubble of snot explodes with a soft ‘pop’ and I hear Max’s hint of laugh appear in the air. She’s probably too polite to burst into laughter, but it’s me who ends up laughing. It was funny though. 

“Did you ‘Toried’ me?” I ask her stroking her brown hair before separating from her body.

She doubts for a second, but then replies with a smile. “I did. Is that a problem?”

“No one calls me like that.” I say furrowing my eyebrows. Actually, no one calls me like that.

“I know.” She says widening her smile.  

I don’t know if there’s a point in asking her how the hell does she know, so I just smile back. I turn around and open the faucet so I can splash some water on my face and get rid of the signs that blatantly point I’ve been crying.

“Max… Thank you.” I say hesitantly.

“You don’t need to. I told you, I’m here for you.” She pats my arm. 

“What does that mean?” I inquire her.   

She doesn’t reply. She just gifts me an enigmatic smile.

“Anyway, if you dare te…”

“If you dare telling this to anyone I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you do. I know.” She cuts me, giggling after finishing speaking.

“You learn fast.” I giggle too.

“Are you ready for class with Mr. Jefferson?” She’s looking more relaxed now, so I guess I’m looking better. 

“I’m ready to call it a year, as a matter of fact. But yeah, let’s go. The day can’t get any worse, no?”

“May the odds be ever in our favor.” She solemnly says with her eyes closed and her index pointing to the ceiling.

“You’re such a geek.” I playfully elbow her.

“Hey! You got that reference!” She suddenly realizes.

“Maybe…” I say, winking at her.

We get out of the bathroom and walk to our class. I don’t how the hell this happened, but Max Caulfield is the reason I’m smiling right now. It feels weird. It feels good.

 

* * *

 

_But the odds weren’t in our favor this morning. The day could get worse, and it got worse indeed. It only took a couple of minutes to get worse, and we all learnt the ugly truth about life. Life can be very strange sometimes, slapping you in the face when you don’t expect it._

_The events that followed the sweet moment Max and I shared in the bathroom will haunt me forever, for sure._

_The blink of your eyes, one beat of your heart, exhaling the air you hold in your lungs… Those small things only last one second, if not less. More than enough time to change who you are and what you think, breaking your mind into pieces if it takes you by surprise._

_Everyone’s eyes were looking up, mines too. Until I looked at my hands and I realized I wasn’t going to be the same person I was before it all happened. Time felt awkwardly tangible in that moment._

_I could swear I saw Max by my side, holding her face with her hands, her nose bleeding profusely. But I blinked and she wasn’t by my side anymore._

_I could swear I saw an angel flying, with her hands opened and her eyes closed. But I blinked and she was still standing there, looking at us with a stoic, yet destroyed look on her face. Like she knew exactly what was going on, unlike the rest of us, and she had already embraced it._

_Words put us in that situation, and still, words were perfectly useless in that situation. You can’t take back what you do, and we like to think that what we do is what really counts, leaving what we say out of life equation. But words count too, and we can’t take them back. We can’t fix what’s unfixable, no matter how hard we try. We can’t control time. We can only let it slip through our fingers with every blink of our eyes, every beat of our hearts, and every exhalation of our lungs, passively watching how your life spins around in a mere second._

_Before those events I could have sworn plenty of things._

_I could have sworn I knew myself better. I could have sworn I had fooled everyone, even myself, with all the shit that usually comes out of my mouth. I could have sworn I was a bold, proud, fierce woman capable of handling any situation I had to face._

_But I blinked._

_I blinked and I wasn’t any of that anymore._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a long time since last chapter and I'm extra sorry for that. Next chapter won't take me that much time. 
> 
> Thanks for all the support, it makes me super happy and I really appreciate it. For real :D


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not safe Maximum Victory this chapter. I'm sorry about it. 
> 
> Next chapter will be after episode 4. Thank you so much for reading this and for the support :D

Max leads the way to photography class while I walk a few steps behind her, close enough to walk together to our destination, but far away enough for bystanders to have the feeling that we are not heading our way together. I don’t know what exactly happened to me back in the bathrooms, to be honest. I mean, it was clearly a panic attack, but it’s highly unlike me to behave like that in public. Not that I was exactly in public, but still… Anyway, what’s done, it’s done. She’s seen me like this and has been gentle enough to hold me tight until it was gone. There was nothing but tenderness in that hug.

Now I wonder why is she so nice to me when I did nothing but hurt her with nasty comments about her everything. _In vino veritas_. Only that I’m not drunk after drinking wine, but drunk after absorbing too much kindness from her. I also wonder how is she able to foresee obstacles with such accuracy. Max definitely knows something I don’t know. Does she have a secret playbook?

Don’t want to give it a second thought. My head is going to explode at this rate.

As we approach the class we both see a very agitated Kate talking to Mr. Jefferson. She looks like she’s about to collapse.

I have a bad feeling about this.

“So you can’t help me?” Kate raises her voice.

“I’m trying. But you have to understand my position...” Replies Mr. Jefferson.

Max stops short and I do the same, still a few steps behind her. Jefferson and Kate are blocking the door anyway.

I actually have a really bad feeling about this.

“Why? You don’t understand mine. Nobody does… nobody…” Kate says out loud, although it looks like she’s talking to herself.

Max gives me a quick glance and I see she looks exactly the same as I do; stiffened. She extends her arm to Kate, but it doesn’t look like she’s willing to talk to anyone right now.

I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it, so I walk into the class, take a chair and sit next to Taylor. 

“Where were you? Taylor and I waited in the hallway, but we didn’t see you.” She asks.

“I told you I was in the bathroom.” I reply.

Taylor starts rambling about the Halloween party, all the clothes she’s tried on, and all the guys she wants to hook up with. I don’t pay her any attention at all, but I keep nodding every now and then so she knows I’m still here, at least physically. Right before I lose my temper with Taylor’s speech, Max walks into the room and heads to her usual place. She seems completely lost in her thoughts and doesn’t even look at me. As I am a brilliant tactician, I’m actually seated in a position where I can look at her out of the corner of my eye. There’s nothing to see in any case; Max est dans la lune.

Jefferson gets in and closes the door behind him. He starts talking about chiaroscuro and I try really hard to pay attention, not looking at Max the Astronaut anymore. I’m supposed to be here to learn.

“Yo!! Some crazy shit is going down at the girls’ dorm! Check it!” Zachary says after breaking into the class out of the blue.

Oh, oh.

“Zachary, do not come into my class like that ever again…” Mr Jefferson retorts with an authoritative tone.

Without a second to waste, we all stand up and head to the dorms. Jefferson’s petition to remain seated gets lost with the sound of the chairs moving.

I do have a terrible feeling about this.

I speed up and leave Taylor behind me. Don’t know where Courtney is. Don’t care about it right now. 

It’s starting drizzling outside and I don’t have an umbrella, but I also don’t care about that. The front yard of the dorms is full of students. Everyone’s either here or they are on their way. 

Only when I raise my eyes to the roof I realize what’s going on. Kate standing on the ledge, apparently ready to jump, and definitely looking as miserable as someone who feels the need to put and end to their life.

“Did you see that?” I hear a voice coming from my back. I don’t know who said that. It doesn’t matter right now. 

“Is this for real?” Juliet and Dana are holding each other tightly. Like their lives depend on that clingy moment. Isn’t it curious how we unconsciously seek for contact when we feel the danger coming?

“Bitched flipped out!” Logan yells using his hands to amplify his voice. That’s something incredibly mean to say in this situation, even for him.

Oh my god. This can’t be happening. What have we done? What have I done?

Shit. The giddiest part of _this_ is that Kate is standing there, trying to decide whether she jumps or if she stays in this world and fights all of us, and I’m here projecting everything my eyes record to my own feelings and thoughts. Like I’m the only one that matters to myself in this precise moment. I wonder how much of that uncountable overall address to selfishness and how much responds to pure instinct of survival.

Almost everyone is watching Kate through the screens of their phones instead of trying to transform their energy into kinesthetic movement to actually help her. A stormy feeling of hopelessness threatens to devastate my expired world of crowns and childish supremacy scuffles when I realize I’m just another gear teeth of this twisted ensemble. While almost everyone’s eyes are looking at Kate through the screens of their phones, my brain suddenly acknowledges that my eyes are looking at the crowd through the screen of my own phone. 

And it dawns on me. It dawns on me what I couldn’t see before. All the veiled hints converge on the same point right in front of my eyes; we’re pure, unrefined violence. 

My senses are abruptly activated when my mind connects the dots of my poisoned behavior. I can feel it with all my senses now. I hear the violence in the gasps I perceive surrounding me. I smell the violence in the pouring rain that is suddenly soaking my clothes, far away from making me feel clean. I taste the violence in the void words not so long ago would have filled my mouth. I touch the violence in the tangible waves that it crafts under my nose. And of course, I see the violence silently wrapping my heart with a mantle of despair.

I want to scream. I want to cry. I want my mask of confidence to make it go way. I want it to stop. Not like an innocent desire of self-comfort, but a desperate holler as a result of my infected behavior.

In a reflex arc my body didn’t let my brain know until completed, I find myself with my knees rammed in the muddy grass of the dorms yard. 

Some tears roll their way down my cheeks leaving a burning trail, even though the raindrops are all over my body and my apparently naked soul. Just some tears. More than enough to make me realize that if Kate dies today, she’ll take a part of me with her. Among all the reason why I’m positive that just can’t happen, I embrace the selfishness of my desire for the situation to have a happy ending. She’s truly an angel. An angel about to fly out of here to a better place. How could we possibly have done this to her? It’s not funny anymore. Life as I knew it days ago doesn’t seem…real. We’ve all been playing this sick sadistic game with such a lighthearted attitude it almost feels like a nightmare.

“Are you okay?”

I feel the voice close to me. A hand wraps my arm and pulls me up, making me remember. Remember who I am. Who I’m supposed to be.

“I just lost the balance.” I say standing up. My heart breaks with every step that I take and I hope my feet don’t fail me now. Like Lana said. “Give me an update.”

“Someone’s up there. We think it might be Max.” Courtney gasps hugging my arm.

“Where are the teachers? And security?” I reply, returning my eyes to Kate, who’s looking to the back of the roof now.

Hang in there, Kate. Please.

“The guy with the moustache is heading to the roof. No teachers around.” Informs Taylor. “Do you think Max can make it?” She asks with a note of fear in her voice.

“She’s friends with Kate, isn’t she?” Courtney joins the conversation.

“Yes. She is.” I answer shortly.  I’m focused on the action. 

“Look!” The crowd exclaims.

I can see Max now lending a hand to Kate. Please Kate. Reach her hand. Reach it and don’t look at us. I know for sure that if she looks again at us, game will be over. My pulse echoes in my eardrums and the world seems to move in slow motion. People always say the same about how time slows down when you find yourself in a tragic situation. They say it in the movies, in the songs, in every piece of fiction you read… And I‘ve always thought it was a recurrent cliché, but turns out it wasn’t. Not that everyone around me is moving in slow motion per se. It’s more like your heart rate slows down and there are actually some seconds you feel more stimulus you can process.

My brain, au contraire, is working at top speed to process what my eyes send to it. It takes me some slow-motioned seconds, but I finally see Kate making a risky movement of hesitation. After another couple of slow-motioned seconds, she raises her arm too and steps off the ledge. We all lose sight of Max and Kate. The signs are clear, but the situation is confusing. Just two more slow-motioned seconds and we all know. 

She made it. Max made it.

I cannot believe it.

I can’t even.

Everyone’s clapping and hugging each other. I let out an extra long sigh while I feel my heart beating again, but I don’t join the celebration. People might think I sort of appreciate the unholy duo if I do it. Even if I didn’t care about joining the unexpected party, I don’t feel like. Who are they trying to fool? They make me sick. So sick I need to suppress the urge of vomiting right here. The sound words make when they come out of everyone’s mouths feels like violence.

“Victoria? You look pale as a ghost.” Says Taylor rubbing my back.

“I can’t believe she was going to do it.” I state like a zombie. What have we done to her?

“I know. I can’t believe it either. What if we went to far with her? I tossed her a really nasty note yesterday.” Taylor says with tears in her eyes.

“Let’s let it be for now and make sure she’s okay.” I manage to say. Previous gulp to swallow the lump in my throat.

Taylor jumps to my body and hugs me. I reply to the contact by holding her tightly. Somehow it feels calming.

The rain keeps falling unceasingly. It soaks our clothes and our hopes of finding some sort of redemption. Raindrops hit our heated bodies after consuming so much energy in keeping Kate alive. In our minds, of course. We needed to keep her alive to avoid the sword of Damocles. To prevent it from falling down and cut off our heads as if a small French Revolution were going on in Blackwell.    

Not even 5 minutes go by when Max exits the dorms holding a fragile Kate with the questionable escort of the Academy’s very own hound-dog; David Madsen.

We are all standing there, looking at the group of three. 

They’re quickly surrounded by the teachers’ squat and everyone’s trying to get close to show the girl some support. Same girl not so long ago they were ignoring. But anyway, I’m honest enough to keep the distance and start thinking about redemption the way it should be done. Discreetly.

Courtney, Taylor and I stay some good meters behind the mob, carefully watching their movements. Almost analyzing them, as they are probably trying to fully assimilate what just happened, like us.

There’s an ambulance already waiting on the side of the road. Thank God someone used their phone to call Emergencies. On the other hand, most of us were occupied being big time assholes by using our phones as the ultimate weapon to humiliate someone who is literally on the edge.

In this moment, while I watch them march to the ambulance, I’m decided to turn the tables. I know what I have to do. I have to speak with Max. I need to know. I need answers. I know there’s something going on. I know it has to do with her. 

I feel a rush of adrenaline striking my body and making my heart race. I’m not entirely sure about _how_ am I going to do it. But by now I’m positive fate is desperately pulling us together. She has a story to tell me. The story of how she made it to the roof. Because, I swear I saw her by my side when Kate was ready to embrace the result of our toxic behavior towards her.

My chest hurts when I think of it, but I try to shove it out of my mind. I’ll have the rest of my like to think about how we almost pushed a girl into committing suicide.

I take a piece of paper from my purse and write with a poor yet acceptable calligraphy using my other hand as the base.

_The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly._

Done. Now I need some back up.

“Girls. I need you to help me, and I need it now. I have to give Max something, but those two are going to block the way.” I say pointing at Dana and Juliet. “I need you to distract them so I can get close to Max.”

“What do you need from her?” Inquires Courtney.

Questions, questions, questions. I don’t need them now.

“It’s important, trust me. I’ll explain everything when it comes the moment, okay?”

“Mmm… You can count on us, Vicky.” 

“You’re our best friend.” Bright smile on Taylor’s face. “Court, let’s make up something about the Halloween party. “ 

“Lead the way.” I tell them.

“JULIET! DANA! We just had an incredible idea for the party! Let me tell you!” Shouts Taylor approaching them, Courtney following her.

Juliet gives me a quick glance, but I hurriedly melt into a group of people like an assassin. She turns to Dana and my dear minions. It worked for now, but I don’t have that much time.

The ambulance just took Kate to the hospital, but the teachers are talking with deadly serious faces. They’re probably going to take Max somewhere private to investigate what happened. Therefore, I’m running out of time.

Sneaking my way into the students, I reach Max and without turning back (not even metaphorically), I call her in a soft, subtle tone.

“Max! Hey!”

“Victoria.” She looks confused.

“I need to talk with you. Not now, tonight. My room. Can you make it?”

Raising her hand to her forehead, she speaks directly to the air. “I don’t know… I don’t actually feel like talking after all that happened.”

I lean closer so I can speak straight into her ear. “Please, we have a pending conversation, and it’s very important.”

She hops in surprise when I hold her hand with both my hands, placing the note in the middle and clenching her hand in a fist around it. When she recovers the composure, I lock eyes with her to make sure she understood the gravitas of the situation. 

“Please.” I say frantically shifting my eyes from one of her eyes to another. My hands are still wrapped to her fist holding the note.

She strokes the note harder and gives me a knowingly look.

“Okay.”

“Marché conclu then.”

I squeeze her hand and turn around, walking to the same group of students that served me as the coverage to avoid SJW Juliet and Dana. As the situation here is pretty chaotic, none of the students I pass by realized I’ve just talked with Max, and I must say I’m very surprised about it. Regardless, my last-minute plan worked, now I can only expect for her to show up tonight in my room.  

“Courtney, Taylor. Let’s go.” I call my girls.

“Okay, Victoria. So, Juliet, think about it. Kate would totally appreciate the detail.”

My girls join my company and we head back to the dorms to have some peace. 

“Did you manage to speak with Max?” Courtney asks me.

“Yes.”

“We bullshited Juliet and Dana really hard about making a huge banner for Kate. “ God, Courtney looks exultant. 

“We could actually do it, no?” Taylor replies with a surprised tone.

“Well, yeah. It was a good idea though.” Courtney corrects herself. The look on her face shows she legit thinks she had a bright idea.

“You wanna see a movie or something? I need to disconnect from shitty reality.” I cut their conversation. I don’t want to be rude, but I really need to disconnect before the “party” starts tonight. 

“What do you feel like watching, Vicky?” Asks Courtney. 

“Something stupid.” I reply honestly.

“How about… Mhm…. Pitch Perfect?” Tries Courtney after thinking about it for some seconds.

“God Courtney, you’re so smart! That’s aca-perfect!” Taylor is all for it.

“Aca-done then.” I say smiling. Nice idea.

 

* * *

 

When I come back to my room, I find a note written with smudgy calligraphy. Max slipped it under the door. 

_“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”_

I press the note to my chest, take a seat on my bed and place my eyes in the horizon. There’s something wrong with the light, but I can’t tell exactly what it is. 

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall…” I whisper.

Leaves have begun to fall off the trees indeed. So she understands. She understands I’m not that mean. And she will really come to speak with me.

Can’t say it’s not going to be interesting… She’ll probably want to know about Kate’s incident, and I want to know about what’s going on here regarding her. We’re going to have to trust each other if we want to make this work. After all I’ve done, she’s in…

For a second I thought quoting The Great Gatsby was an extremely risky and pretentious move, but Max got it right. Like Jay, I just have a perfectly built mask. I bet my ass people think I’m just a black and white shaded person who’s openly mean without a reason to be like that. While it’s true that I’m sometimes nasty to other people, hardly anyone cared about me. Hardly anyone cares about me, better said. I have Courtney and Taylor by my side, and I’m very thankful for that, but besides them, people just jump to conclusions with me.

At this point I can’t prevent the tears from falling off my eyes. Once they start falling, I just let them out.

The door of my room opens, and I don’t even bother looking at either Courtney or Taylor. Or both of them.

“Victoria…” A male’s voice wakes me up. It’s Nathan.

I look at him, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

“I got expelled… Max told the Principal I drugged Kate and I’m the one after the video.” He says.

“But you did drug her.” I spit out.

Nathan doesn’t say anything. Silence means consent. I guess…

“Did you rape her?” I ask him.

I need to know.

“What? No!” “What the fuck, Victoria? I didn’t lay a finger on her!” Nathan cries.

“And you expect me to believe you?”

“You really think I raped her?” He asks, anxiety showing in his voice. 

“Definitely a possibility.” I say quietly.

“You’re supposed to be my friend. How could you think something like that about me?”

Okay, he’s the one looking on the edge right now, but I can’t back up.

“I’m supposed to be your friend? Are you serious? You threatened me with going to the cops and tell them about Rachel’s incident, you drugged Kate at the party, then you asked me to record a video of Max to blackmail her, and as the cherry on top, you fucking hit me in the bathroom. Now, you’re seriously expecting me to be ‘your friend’. How convenient, right when you got yourself expelled and brought to the limelight.”

That was a hell of a word vomit.

“You don’t know what I’m going through. You really don’t know.”

His face makes me feel kind of sorry. It’s true that I don’t know what he’s going through. But…

“You didn’t tell me either. You just imposed a bunch of abusive rules expecting me to obey them without further questions. Not the way it works, Nate.”

“So you’re turning your back to me?” Nathan perplexedly asks me.

“I am not. But you need to tell me the truth. Otherwise, I’m afraid I wont be able to help you.” I sigh. 

“I can’t.” He says after hesitating for a moment.

“Then… These rooms are quite small. I don’t think I need to show you the way out.” I give him a last look before looking away.

When I hear the door closing, I let out a long sigh. My head is going to explode. I can’t take it anymore. Maybe it would be a good idea to take a nap?

Probably. I’m going to need the energy for tonight. I have the feeling that it’s going to be a really long night, like the week has been so far. How ironic Max begged for the odds to be ever in our favor. The odds were in no one’s favor this morning…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the mistakes the chapter might have. Will check the entire story soon.


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